Summary – Survey on Pension deferral awareness
Official title: Summary of the results of the survey on Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security Pension deferral awareness among Canadians
On this page
Background
Canada’s retirement income system includes pension deferral options for both:
These options aim to give Canadians more flexibility as they transition to retirement.
We conducted a survey in 2018 on pension deferral awareness among Canadians.
Objective
The research objective was to measure the level of awareness of CPP and OAS deferral options for Canadians aged 40 to 64.
Methodology
We conducted the survey on the Canada.ca website during the July 27 to August 20, 2018, period. The survey used a random pop-up to recruit a total of 8,622 participants. This resulted in 3,834 valid participants, aged 40 to 64.
The survey asked participants to answer 2 questions on deferral awareness, one for the CPP retirement pension and one for the OAS pension.
For the survey, we:
- recruited participants online from a Government of Canada website, and
- selected respondents from individuals who volunteered to participate in an online survey
As a result, respondents may:
- have a higher level of education and higher income than the general population, and
- be more aware of CPP and OAS than the general population
Question on deferral awareness for the CPP retirement pension
Do you think it's possible to delay the start of your CPP retirement pension?
Multiple-choice answers
- No, you must start your pension as soon as you become eligible
- Yes, but your monthly pension amount will stay the same
- Yes, but your monthly pension amount will be reduced for each month you delay
- Yes, and your monthly pension amount will be increased for each month you delay
- I don’t know
Correct answer
The correct answer is number 4 (Yes, and your monthly pension amount will be increased for each month you delay).
Question on deferral awareness for the OAS pension
Do you think it's possible to delay the start of your OAS pension?
Multiple-choice answers
- No, you must start your pension as soon as you become eligible
- Yes, but your monthly pension amount will stay the same
- Yes, but your monthly pension amount will be reduced for each month you delay
- Yes, and your monthly pension amount will be increased for each month you delay
- I don’t know
Correct answer
The correct answer is number 4 (Yes, and your monthly pension amount will be increased for each month you delay).
Survey results
The survey found that:- overall, pension deferral awareness was low:
- 36% of all respondents were correctly aware of the deferral option for the CPP retirement pension
- 17% of all respondents were correctly aware of the deferral option for the OAS pension
- men were more likely to be aware than women:
- more men (42%) than women (34%) were correctly aware of the deferral option for the CPP retirement pension
- more men (20%) than women (16%) were correctly aware of the deferral option for the OAS pension
- awareness increased with age:
- more respondents aged 60 to 64 (58%) than respondents aged 40 to 44 (16%) were correctly aware of the deferral option for the CPP retirement pension
- more respondents aged 60 to 64 (25%) than respondents aged 40 to 44 (9%) were correctly aware of the deferral option for the OAS pension
- awareness increased with income:
- correct awareness of the deferral option for the CPP retirement pension was the highest for respondents with personal annual income over $125,000 (59%) and the lowest for respondents with personal annual income below $25,000 (26%)
- correct awareness of the deferral option for the OAS pension was the highest for respondents with personal annual income over $125,000 (29%) and the lowest for respondents with personal annual income below $25,000 (12%)
- awareness increased with level of education:
- more respondents with an undergraduate degree (49%) were correctly aware of the deferral option for the CPP retirement pension than respondents without a high school diploma or equivalency certificate (28%)
- more respondents with an undergraduate degree (25%) were correctly aware of the deferral option for the OAS pension than respondents without a high school diploma or equivalency certificate (12%)
Tables 1 to 5 break down the survey results by program, sex, age, income, and education level.
Program | % of respondents correctly aware of pension deferral options |
---|---|
CPP retirement pension | 36 |
OAS pension | 17 |
Sex | % of respondents correctly aware of CPP deferral option | % of respondents correctly aware of OAS deferral option |
---|---|---|
Women | 34 | 16 |
Men | 42 | 20 |
Age | % of respondents correctly aware of CPP deferral option | % of respondents correctly aware of OAS deferral option |
---|---|---|
40 to 44 | 16 | 9 |
45 to 49 | 17 | 8 |
50 to 54 | 27 | 17 |
55 to 59 | 46 | 19 |
60 to 64 | 58 | 25 |
Personal annual income ($) | % of respondents correctly aware of CPP deferral option | % of respondents correctly aware of OAS deferral option |
---|---|---|
Less than $25,000 | 26 | 12 |
$25,000 to $49,999 | 31 | 15 |
$50,000 to $74,999 | 41 | 18 |
$75,000 to $99,999 | 50 | 26 |
$100,000 to $124,999 | 53 | 28 |
$125,000 or more | 59 | 29 |
Education level | % of respondents correctly aware of CPP deferral option | % of respondents correctly aware of OAS deferral option |
---|---|---|
Without high school diploma or equivalency certificate | 28 | 12 |
High school diploma or equivalency certificate | 28 | 13 |
Undergraduate degree | 49 | 25 |
Use of survey results
We are using the survey results to promote awareness of pension deferral options among Canadians.
Page details
- Date modified: