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Ranked: The World’s 100 Biggest Pension Funds
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Despite economic uncertainty, pension funds saw relatively strong growth in 2021. The world’s 100 biggest pension funds are worth over $17 trillion in total, an increase of 8.5% over the previous year.
This graphic uses data from the Thinking Ahead Institute to rank the world’s biggest pension funds, and where they are located.
What is a Pension Fund?
A pension fund is a fund that is designed to provide retirement income. This ranking covers four different types:
- Sovereign funds: Funds controlled directly by the state. This ranking only includes sovereign funds that are established by national authorities.
- Public sector funds: Funds that cover public sector workers, such as government employees and teachers, in provincial or state sponsored plans.
- Private independent funds: Funds controlled by private sector organizations that are authorized to manage pension plans from different employers.
- Corporate funds: Funds that cover workers in company sponsored pension plans.
Among the largest funds, public sector funds are the most common.
The Largest Pension Funds, Ranked
Here are the top 100 pension funds, organized from largest to smallest.
| Rank | Fund | Market | Total Assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Government Pension Investment Fund |  Japan | $1.7T |
| 2 | Government Pension Fund |  Norway | $1.4T |
| 3 | National Pension |  South Korea | $798.0B |
| 4 | Federal Retirement Thrift |  U.S. | $774.2B |
| 5 | ABP |  Netherlands | $630.4B |
| 6 | California Public Employees | U.S. | $496.8B |
| 7 | Canada Pension |  Canada | $426.7B |
| 8 | National Social Security |  China | (Read more...) |