A new OECD report says pension plans in Canada eked out a measly 1.8 per cent return in investments last year, but still came out ahead of the average for other industrialized countries.
The gain in Canada compared with an average investment loss of 1.7 per cent for the countries studied by OECD and a loss of 2.7 per cent in the United States.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, headquartered in Paris, has 34 member countries in most regions of the world. However, the four BRIC countries Brazil, Russia, India and China haven't joined.
"After a period of recovery over 2009-2010, OECD-area pension funds experienced negative rates of return in more than half of the OECD countries in 2011," the report said.
The OECD said renewed uncertainty in the world economy hurt performance and reversed positive trends in global stock markets. Bond portfolios exposed to the European sovereign debt crisis were also hammered, but funds with high exposure to the safe havens benefited from gains.
Denmark led the way with 12.1 per cent return, helped by gains on bond investments and interest hedging, while the worst performer was Turkey, which saw a loss of 10.8 per cent.
The United States had the largest market, with assets worth $10.6 trillion. However, that has slipped as a percentage of the total. The U.S. share stood at 67.3 per cent in 2001 compared with 53.2 in 2011.
