Pension Fund Statistics

Balance sheet (assets and liabilities) data for pension funds resident in Ireland (ESA 2010 sector S129) consists of financial corporations that principally engage in financial intermediation as a consequence of pooling social risks and providing for income in retirement. In Ireland, a pension fund is an autonomous occupational pension scheme established under trust.

Key Points - Q1 2025

Publication Date: 13 June 2025

• Total assets of the Irish pension fund (PF) sector decreased by 9 per cent in Q1 2025 to stand at €134 billion (Chart 1). This was driven by a drop in debt securities and investment fund shares across some major funds. Additionally, insurance technical reserves (ITRs)¹ ceased their previously sustained upward trend.
• Technical reserves relating to pension entitlements decreased by 3.9 per cent in Q1 2025 to stand at €131 billion (Chart 2). This was driven by a decrease in defined contribution (DC) technical reserves of 4.6 per cent alongside a decrease of 3 per cent in defined benefit (DB) technical reserves.² This reduction in liabilities only partially offset the decline in assets, consequently net worth for the sector declined to €0.5bn.
• At the end of 2024, Irish occupational pension funds had a total membership of 1.66 million people, remaining broadly unchanged compared to the previous year. Approximately 40 per cent of the members are enrolled in defined benefit schemes, while 60 per cent are in defined contribution schemes.  Active members represent the majority of defined contribution scheme participants (Chart 3, RHS), whereas they constitute a smaller portion within defined benefit schemes (Chart 3, LHS), with deferred members accounting for a larger share of defined benefit (63 per cent). 

Summary Charts

Chart 1: Assets of Irish pension funds

Chart 2: Liabilities of Irish pension funds

Chart 3: Pension fund membership breakdown (2024) 

Notes

[1] In the pension funds context insurance technical reserves (ITRs) are assets relating to claims on insurance corporations by pension funds (also known as pension fund reserves) while pension entitlement are liabilities relating to claims on pension funds by households.

[2] Defined benefit technical reserves includes hybrid schemes. Technical reserves are valued on an accounting standard basis. Defined benefit technical reserves and net worth are reported on an annual basis (at year end), values for other quarters are estimated and subject to revision on receipt of latest annual data.

Explore Pension Fund Statistics in Open Data Format