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 2026

Publication Date: 19 June 2026

• Total assets of the Irish pension fund sector increased by 2.5 per cent in Q1 2026 to stand at €148 billion (Chart 1). This was driven by a continued upward trend in insurance technical reserves¹, which grew by 3 per cent (€2.6 billion) over the quarter.
• Pension entitlements increased by 1 per cent on a quarterly basis in Q1 2026 to stand at €134 billion (Chart 2). Both defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension entitlements² contributed to this growth, increasing by 1.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.
• Irish occupational pension funds had a total membership of 1.9 million at end-2025, an increase of 9.2 per cent on the previous year. Active members account for 49.5 per cent of overall members (Chart 3), with 86.2 per cent of active members part of a defined contribution (DC) scheme. Additionally, deferred members of Irish pension funds account for 45.1 per cent of total members, and 5.4 per cent are retired members.

Summary Charts

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 technical reserves are liabilities relating to claims on pension funds by households.

[2] Defined benefit technical reserves include 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.

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