Pots of gold

Europe's voters know their state pension schemes don't add up, but reject attempts to reform them. What can governments do next?

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It has played a starring role in one of the worst periods of political turmoil in France since the 1960s. In Germany, it threatens the future of the coalition government.

In Spain, thousands have taken to the streets to demand change. The right to a decent state pension has been a central plank of the European social contract for decades, but people are living longer, birthrates are falling, and the continent's pension systems are, increasingly, unsustainable.

A six-country YouGov poll reveals the extent of the public-opinion problem governments face. Many people acknowledge state pension schemes are in trouble: majorities of between 61% and 52% in Italy, France, Germany and Spain said theirs was already unaffordable, as well as 45% of respondents in Poland. In the UK the figure was 32%.

Looking to the future, people were even more pessimistic: majorities or near-majorities (49%-66%) in all six countries said they thought that by the time people currently in their 30s and 40s retire, their country's system would be unaffordable.

Retirees were more optimistic about their country's capacity to fund its state pension system. Pensioners in the UK were particularly upbeat, with 62% saying they think the UK state pension is affordable, against only 27% of their non-retired counterparts.