HC Deb 29 April 1987 vol 115 cc171-3W
Mrs. Beckett

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the most recent available estimate of (a) the number of retired people, by country of residence, living abroad in a country with which Britain has no reciprocal social security agreement, and who would otherwise be receiving a state retirement pension and (b) the cost of paying a state retirment pension to these people.

Mr. Major

British retirement pensions are payable anywhere in the world. Cost-of-living increases are paid, however, only where there is a reciprocal agreement with the country concerned to provide for this.

The number of retirement pensioners who are living in a country with which the United Kingdom has no reciprocal social security agreement to provide for payment of the increase is as follows:

Number of Retirement Pensioners, in overseas Countries at 31 December 1985 (Latest Figures Available)
Country Number
Albania 5
Algeria 1
Andorra 88
Angola 1
Anguilla 49
Antigua 119
Argentina 133
Australia 96,126
Bahamas 106
Bahrain 15
Bangladesh 1,253
Barbados 729
Belize 10
Bolivia 4
Botswana 38
Brazil 133
Brunei 9
Bulgaria 9
Burma 7
Cameroon 4
Canada 54,388
Cayman Islands 22
Chile 38
China 7
Colombia 23
Cook Islands 5
Costa Rica 5
Czechoslovakia 25
Djibouti 3
Dominica, Commonwealth of 233
Dominican Republic 132
East Germany 13
Ecuador 9
Egypt 34
E1 Salvador 1
Ethiopia 4
Falkland Islands and Dependencies 6
Faroe Islands 1
Fiji 27
Gabon 1
Gambia 5
Ghana 44
Grenada 298
Guatemala 3
Guyana 124
Haiti 1
Honduras 2
Hong Kong 331
Hungary 138
India 2,580
Indonesia 13
Iraq 3
Japan 42
Jordan 7
Kenya 345
Kiribati (Gilbert Islands) 2
Kuwait 6
Lebanon 26
Lesotho 6
Liberia 4
Libyan Arab Republic 2
Madagascar 2
Malawi 38
Malaya 45
Mexico 56
Monaco 160
Monserrat 180
Morocco 28
Monzambique 1
Naura, Republic of 2
Nepal 14
Netherlands Antilles 6
New Zealand 23,167
Nigeria 69
Norfolk Island 11

Country Number
Norway 119
Oman 8
Pakistan 3,369
Panama 7
Papua New Guinea 17
Peru 34
Philippines 34
Poland 2,459
Puerto Rico 3
Qatar 6
Romania 19
Ruanda 2
St Helena and Dependencies 30
St Kitts-Nevis 277
St Lucia 350
St Vincent 237
Sarawak 2
Saudi Arabia 23
Senegal 8
Seychelles 24
Sierra Leone 33
Singapore 60
Solomon Islands 4
Somalia 134
South Africa 18,879
South Korea 2
South West Africa or Namibia 13
Sri Lanka 94
Sudan 9
Swaziland 42
Sweden 64
Syria 1
Taiwan 2
Tanzania 39
Thailand 31
Togo 1
Tonga 3
Trinidad and Tobago 251
Tunisia 8
Turks & Caicos Islands 2
Uganda 12
United Arab Emirates 22
USSR 741
Uruguay 16
Vanuatu (New Hebrides) 1
Venezuela 26
Virgin Islands 29
Western Samoa 7
Yemen Arab Republic (North) 719
Yemen, People's Democratic Republic of (South) 87
Zaire 5
Zambia 86
Zimbabwe 3,498

The annual cost of paying these retirement pensions was £168 million in November 1985. Payment at the full November 1985 rates would have cost an additional £166 million.