Most Africans Have No Pension
Many Black Africans lack a culture of planning for the future, including in pension schemes and overall strategic foresight. This mindset is reflected in our lifestyle choices. How is it possible that, of Black Africa’s 1.3 billion people, less than 20% have a pension plan, job security, or family planning? Even many Black Africans living in Western countries tend to avoid private pension plans. This lack of foresight persists even among those who have lived in the UK, US, and Canada for years.
The average life expectancy in Nigeria is 54 years, and in Kenya and Ghana, it is 65, while the sub-Saharan average is 63. The average retirement age is between 60 and 65 years. There isn’t much incentive to invest in a pension if one may not live long enough to benefit from it. However, we need to take this issue seriously. The term “pension” is not commonly used in the vernacular of many sub-Saharan Africans. The chaotic governmental structures in our countries do not support standardised pension schemes. Moreover, government officials have embezzled pension funds, and many pensioners have died waiting for their payments. In Nigeria, even for those few who are employed in the public sector, where pensions are part of the employment package, there can be lengthy delays in payments.
When someone raises the topic of pensions with a Black African, it often goes in one ear and out the other. Many do not see the value in thinking so far ahead. Only 26% of the Nigerian public workforce has a private pension plan, compared to less than 0.3% in the private sector. It’s important to note that the private sector employs 74% of the total workforce. In Nigeria alone, 113 million people are in the workforce, meaning 94 million working Nigerians have no pension of any kind. Most pensioners are in the public sector, where pensions are automatically included in their employment packages.
In Ghana, only 1.8 million people, or 13% of the country’s 14 million working population, are enrolled in and contributing to a pension scheme. Most of these individuals work in the public sector, where their employment package includes a pension. In Ghana, 80% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, meaning that 12.2 million out of a total workforce of 14 million people do not have a pension plan.
In Kenya, only 1.6% of the 17 million informal-sector workers have a pension. In Côte d’Ivoire, the figure is just 2.5% of its 13 million workforce. In Tanzania, 8% of the country’s 25 million workers are enrolled in a pension scheme. In contrast, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fewer than 4% of the 40 million workforce have access to a pension.
This data is striking and revealing. Participation in pension schemes is high among public sector employees, where these plans are mandatory. However, when participation is not compulsory, the average drops to less than 3%, highlighting a lack of proactive planning for the future. Many Africans tend to focus on the immediate present, often overlooking the need for long-term financial security. Currently, 91% of workers in sub-Saharan Africa do not save for old age, and only 20% of individuals aged 60 or older receive a pension. Overall, only 9% of the labour force is covered by a pension scheme.
In contrast, 82% of employees in the UK participate in a workplace pension, and everyone, regardless of whether they work in the private or public sector, is automatically enrolled in the statutory pension system. In Germany, the statutory pension insurance scheme covers 87% of the labour force, whereas in France, nearly 100% of the workforce is covered. Most countries in West and East Asia also employ people, whether publicly or privately. This clearly highlights the vulnerability of many Africans.
Furthermore, healthcare is not free in Africa; it can be very expensive, and emergency services are virtually nonexistent. Many Africans do not even understand the concept of calling an ambulance or the police on a free call when in an emergency. Ironically, African leaders often travel outside the continent where they see this system in action but fail to implement similar services in their own countries. As a result, many African children bear the heavy burden of supporting their numerous siblings and parents, who place the responsibility of raising younger siblings and caring for their parents upon them.
In the old days, when they lived in tribal settings and relied solely on what they farmed, their way of life made sense. However, adopting a Western system of governance requires several key elements: a sound pension scheme, a productive economy, an educated workforce, discipline, transparency, the right to private property, and an independent judiciary. While countries in Africa have adopted colonial structures on paper, in practice, many still operate as if they are in tribal settings, masking this reality under the guise of functioning nations.
To illustrate why Africans are not ready to learn from and improve with the West, consider African immigrants, especially those from West and Central Africa, living in Western countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, or the United States. Many of them do not have private pension plans. Instead, they save money throughout the year to return home in December so that they can experience, even for a few weeks, their tribal gatherings and partying, only to return to the West empty-handed and repeat the same cycle.
Many are renting in the West while they have constructed houses in their villages in Africa, which they visit only once or twice a year. African culture is the biggest barrier to Africans. Many are juggling two jobs in the West to support the numerous children that their parents brought into the world. This is why there are so many money transfer services in cities where large African communities reside. They are essentially providing for the pension that their parents and uncles did not secure during their employment.
The Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS) achieved a record-breaking collection of ₦28.3 trillion in 2025, equivalent to about $21 billion. In contrast, Nigerians living abroad remitted $25 billion home, surpassing the country’s total revenue. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) collected $11.8 billion in 2025, while diaspora remittances totalled $7.9 billion. The African diaspora is a significant source of revenue for many governments. Many send money home to cover pension costs and support their siblings and parents. This dynamic is one reason why many Africans do not prioritise pension plans; instead, they tend to have multiple children to transfer the responsibility of care to the next generation.
Relying on one’s children as a pension is not the most effective way to secure financial stability compared to structured pension schemes in the West or East Asia. The reality is that not every African will migrate to Europe or North America. For instance, fewer than 1 million Nigerians live in the United States, and fewer than 300,000 in the United Kingdom. In total, fewer than 15 million of the 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa reside in the West, amounting to just over 1%. Thus, who supports the millions of families whose children have not succeeded in moving abroad? The traditional African model of support has significantly faltered in the context of 21st-century realities.
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By Ikechukwu ORJI
