HC Deb 14 May 1987 vol 116 cc349-52W
Mr. Cartwright

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has of the additional annual costs of paying the level of retirement pension payable to (i) all British retirement and widowed pensioners aged 75 years and over, (ii) all male British retirement and widowed pensioners aged 65 years and over and (iii) all female British retirement and widowed pensioners aged 60 years and over living in all those territories not covered by a reciprocal agreement with the United Kingdom.

Mr. Major

The figures requested for paying United Kingdom rates of benefit at November 1985 levels, the latest date for which calculations can readily be made, are estimated to be approximately

  1. i. £46.4 million
  2. ii. £63.0 million
  3. iii. £103.0 million

For countries with which the United Kingdom does not have a reciprocal agreement providing for pension increases.

Mr. Cartwright

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will list each country or dependency outside the United Kingdom where United Kingdom retirement pensioners are known to live and draw their pension, showing for each country how many pensioners there are, whether they get pension increases and, for those countries where they do not, what was the average pension paid at 31 December 1986.

Mr. Major

The table shows the countries where United Kingdom pensioners are known to live, the number of pensioners living there, whether annual increases are paid and an estimate of the average pension paid at 31 December 1986.

Pensioners living in the Channel Islands are not included as there is no ready way of identifying payment to them separately from payment to pensioners in the United Kingdom.

Number of pensioners in overseas countries at 31 December 1986
Country Number of pensioners (Includes number of widow pensioners) Average pension at 31 December 1986 £
Albania 6 14.52
Algeria 2 16.46
American Samoa 1 7.01
Andorra 106 (2) 7.90
Angola 1 23.98
Anguilla 63 14.44
Antigua 149 (7) 17.06
Argentina 140 (7) 3.88
Ascension Island 3 1.82
Australia 106,531 (2,735) 12.94
Austria1 2,191 (105) 13.80
Bahamas 114 (4) 9.48
Bahrain 18 (3) 5.94
Bangladesh 4,161 (799) 6.59

Country Number of pensioners (Includes number of widow pensioners) Average pension at 31 December 1986 £
Barbados 878 (26) 17.69
Belgium1 3,011 (146) 14.25
Belize 8 19.53
Benin 1 23.04
Bermuda1 258 (13) 20.22
Bolivia 3 0.48
Botswana 48 (7) 7.31
Brazil 162 (19) 4.67
Brunei 8 (1) 13.57
Bulgaria 9 5.68
Burma 5 9.27
Canada 66,649 (1,925) 13.26
Cayman Islands 29 (3) 15.83
Central African Republic 2 (1) 16.50
Chile 45 (5) 4.00
China 11 (1) 1.86
Colombia 20 14.25
Cook Islands 4 10.74
Costa Rica 7 15.91
Cyprus1 2,586 (123) 20.55
Czechoslovakia 28 12.33
Denmark1 293 (33) 23.77
Djibouti 5 36.47
Dominica, Commonwealth of 287 (10) 14.17
Dominican Republic 147 (6) 18.84
East Germany 18 (2) 11.62
Ecuador 7 5.56
Egypt 46 (3) 5.40
Falkland Islands and Dependencies 8 (1) 5.12
Faroe Islands 2 (1) 24.11
Fiji 26 8.74
Finland1 54 (14) 25.06
France1 5,262 (196) 14.53
Gambia 7 31.49
Ghana 45 (1) 8.42
Gibraltar1 329 (24) 27.21
Greece1 832 (67) 16.06
Grenada 363 (17) 18.07
Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Reunion Island1 5 17.56
Guyana 137 (3) 10.90
Haiti 1 28.68
Honduras 3 20.42
Hong Kong 383 (21) 11.48
Hungary 158 (5) 14.12
Iceland1 20 (4) 16.04
India 5,914 (353) 6.00
Indonesia 21 (1) 1.48
Iraq 4 1.39
Irish Republic1 45,275 (3,663) 24.05
Israel1 2,134 (67) 20.76
Italy1 9,007 (881) 20.83
Jamaica1 10,951 (360) 24.22
Japan 55 (11) 6.36
Jordan 7 5.24
Kenya 395 (10) 4.55
Kiribati (Gilbert Islands) 3 604
Kuwait 4 12.40
Lebanon 26 (3) 5.41
Lesotho 6 17.97
Liberia 5 16.40
Luxembourg1 56 (7) 13.77
Madgascar 2 50.95
Malawi 58 (5) 2.82
Malaya 59 (7) 13.69
Malta1 1,628 (72) 17.64
Mauritius1 104 (6) 15.74
Mexico 70 (5) 5.01
Monaco 186 (6) 11.51

Country Number of pensioners (Includes number of widow pensioners) Average pension at 31 December 1986 £
Montserrat 189 (1) 15.33
Morocco 35 (1) 2.13
Naura, Republic of 2 20.54
Nepal 20 (2) 4.15
Netherlands1 2,128 (182) 15.48
Netherlands Antilles 9 (1) 4.83
New Zealand 26,092 (467) 13.17
Nigeria 105 (31) 4.46
Norfolk Island 14 2.75
Norway 164 (14) 15.00
Pakistan 9,521 (1,159) 5.99
Panama 6 (1) 17.62
Papua New Guinea 17 (1) 4.96
Peru 35 (1) 1.99
Philippines 49 (4) 13.30
Poland 2,764 (41) 3.62
Portugal (including Madeira)1 1,166 (24) 13.95
Puerto Rico 5 (1) 13.51
Qatar 9 (1) 3.95
Rumania 20 (2) 9.35
St. Helena and Dependencies 28 16.79
St. Kitts.Nevis 303 (9) 17.08
St. Lucia 443 (8) 18.34
St. Vincent 286 (10) 16.92
San Marino 2 10.90
Sarawak 3 8.33
Saudi Arabia 34 (9) 4.17
Senegal 7 12.52
Seychelles 28 (2) 10.20
Shar jah 2 (1) 5.68
Sierra Leone 41 (3) 6.90
Singapore 78 (9) 7.62
Solomon Islands 3 15.70
Somalia 164 (21) 14.30
South Africa 22,781 (834) 12.89
South Korea 1 19.66
South West Africa or Namibia 13 (2) 18.43
Spain (including Balearic & Canary Islands)1 15,395 (586) 16.58
Sri Lanka 111 (11) 5.60
Sudan 11 (2) 11.62
Swaziland 58 (2) 10.07
Sweden 74 (5) 11.45
Switzerland1 1,724 (69) 19.71
Syria 2 19.09
Taiwan 5 (1) 16.64
Tanzania 36 (1) 2.94
Thailand 52 (5) 9.13
Tonga 3 9.37
Trinidad and Tobago 296 (14) 15.38
Tunisia 5 (1) 5.13
Turkey1 225 (20) 11.25
Turks & Caicos Islands 4 25.33
Uganda 16 (1) 0.91
United Arab Emirates 22 (6) 7.70

Title Location Principal Researchers Expected duration Comments
Nutritional Survey into fat soluble vitamins Wolfson Research Laboratories, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Birmingham Dr. D. I. Thurnham January 1984 to March 1988

Country Number of pensioners (Includes number of widow pensioners) Average pension at 31 December 1986 £
USA1 37,697 (1,132) 19.98
USSR 769 (7) 11.31
Uruguay 17 (1) 3.70
Vanuata (New Hebrides) 2 3.25
Venezuela 27 2.65
Virgin Islands 37 (7) 9.47
Western Samoa 8 (3) 23.82
West Germany1 10,123 (1,009) 15.60
Yemen Arab Republic (North) 902 (63) 14.15
Yemen People's Democratic Republic of (South) 121 (10) 15.07
Yugoslavia1 989 (30) 32.75
Zaire 5 0.25
Zambia 117 (12) 3.40
Zimbabwe 4,122 (162) 5.12
1 Indicates pension increases paid.

Note.—The above figures do not include 5,453 retirement pensioners and 241 widow beneficiaries residing abroad (other than in the Irish Republic) to whom the Department is making payment on behalf of the Northern Ireland authorities.

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