Too many Americans — and too many Latinos in particular — are not saving adequately for retirement. When surveyed, 43 percent of Latino workers described their personal knowledge of investing or saving for retirement as “knowing nothing,” compared to 12 percent of all workers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanic Americans are the fastest growing segment of the population at or near retirement. The number of Hispanics aged 65 and over will increase from 1.7 million in 2000 to a projected 15.2 million by 2050. As a share of the retirement age population, Hispanics will increase from 4.9 percent in 2000 to a projected 17.5 percent in 2050.
This policy fact sheet is based on "Retirement Security for Latinos: Bolstering Coverage, Savings, and Adequacy," by Peter R. Orszag and Eric Rodriguez. The larger report contains additional information and recommendations, as well as sources for the statistics cited in the fact sheet.
Pew is no longer active in this line of work, but for more information visit the Retirement Security Project on PewHealth.org.