Cyprus pensions remain at the lower end of the European scale

Retirement in Europe comes with no common safety net. A pensioner in one member state may be expected to live on little more than €250 a month, while in Luxembourg somebody with a full insurance record is protected at more than €2,400.

Between those two figures lies a complicated collection of national systems, each with its own rules on contributions, residence, household income and years of work. The result is a European pension map marked by striking differences, but also by numbers that...