Three-quarters of Irish women have no pension coverage

21/08/2006 - 12:00:19
Almost three-quarters of Irish women are reliant on somebody else for their retirement income, according to new figures published by Irish Life.

Launching an awareness campaign on pensions for women today, the financial institution said just 47.5% of working women have a private pension, compared to 54.2% of men.

However, 44% of all Irish women are not classified as "working" and are therefore not included in the figures.

These women mainly do unpaid work in the home and are not able to save for a pension as they have no official income of their own.

Irish Life says the low pension coverage among women is a concern given that the life expectancy of a woman is 83.7 years, compared to 80.4 years for men.