Social Security and Retirement around the World presents comparable descriptive data and analytic calculations for each of the eleven countries discussed. The chapters begin with a description of the historical evolution of labor force participation and then present data on the current age-specific activities and income sources of men and women.

Each paper then goes on to describe the institutional features of the country's social security system, highlighting any interactions with other public and private programs that might also influence retirement behavior. At the core of each chapter is a detailed analysis of the retirement incentives inherent in the provisions of that country's retirement income system. Through this process of analysis, the individual studies provide a means of comparing the retirement incentives among the nations.