"Austrians are richer than you think": This is how wealth is distributed

2023-07-17 19:00:03

“The Austrians are richer than you think.” This is the conclusion reached by the liberal think tank Agenda Austria in a study on the distribution of wealth in Austria. And this wealth distribution is de facto lower than often portrayed.

The reason for this is the acquired statutory pension entitlements, which in Austria are financed using the pay-as-you-go system and are not included in private assets in most statistics.

“Hidden Wealth”

According to this, the richest ten percent of the population in Austria have 56.4 percent of the wealth and the bottom 50 percent have 3.6 percent. However, this unequal distribution is put into perspective when the pension entitlements acquired are also taken into account. Then the top ten percent would only have 38.1 percent of the assets, but the bottom 50 percent would have 14.9 instead of 3.6 percent. “Many Austrians would be surprised if they found out that they have a lot thanks to their pension entitlements,” says economist Denes Kucsera from Agenda Austria. This “hidden” wealth should be recognized because it also offers people security and predictability.

“Pension entitlements are not to be equated with private wealth. But the public pension system plays a decisive role in how much private provision is made, which of course also affects the distribution of wealth. The more generous the public system, the more unequal the distribution,” says Kucsera .