Largest Public Pension Funds Ranked by Assets in 2026

Public pension funds are a crucial pillar of society. Managed on behalf of government employees, retirees, and beneficiaries, these funds ensure that people have a source of income in retirement.

Public pension funds are established by governmental entities and have the primary goal of generating returns that will fund pension payments and keep the fund financially sound. These funds can also assist governments in attracting and retaining qualified employees, contributing to the overall effectiveness and efficiency of public services.

The total assets of these funds are therefore a crucial metric in assessing their scale. That scale, coupled with effective management, plays a pivotal role in generating the income needed to finance pension payments.

Collectively they are growing fast. The world’s 300 largest pension funds grew assets by 13.4% during 2025, the fastest annual growth since 2017, reaching a record $27.7 trillion. The 20 largest alone now hold $11.9 trillion, up 14.7% over the year.

Here’s the list of the largest public pension funds in the world by Total Assets (AUM):

With $2.11 trillion in total assets, Norway’s Government Pension Fund is the largest public pension fund in the world. It overtook Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund in 2024, ending more than two decades of Japanese leadership, and has extended that lead since: it is now 12.7% larger than GPIF and crossed the $2 trillion mark for the first time during 2025.

The United States has the most funds in the top 20, with six, though they are spread across the federal Thrift Savings Plan and a set of large state and city systems rather than concentrated in one national fund. That reflects a structural difference: the US channels public sector retirement saving through many separate plans, while countries such as Norway, Japan and South Korea run a single national pool.

A note on what this list measures. It covers funds that hold and invest assets against pension obligations. It does not include US federal social insurance trust funds such as the Social Security Trust Fund, which holds non-marketable Treasury securities as an accounting balance rather than an invested portfolio, and is therefore not comparable on an assets-under-management basis.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is managed by Norges Bank Investment Management on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Finance. It was built from state revenues from the country’s oil and gas sector and invests almost entirely outside Norway, holding stakes in thousands of companies worldwide. It became the world’s largest pension fund in 2024 and passed $2 trillion during 2025.

One caveat worth knowing: the fund is frequently classified as a sovereign wealth fund rather than a pension fund, because despite its name it carries no direct pension obligation to individual Norwegians. This is why some rankings place GPIF first instead.

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) managed $1.87 trillion as of December 2025. GPIF is an incorporated administrative agency established by the Japanese government with the primary goal of achieving the investment returns required for the public pension system, with minimal risk, over the long term. It was the world’s largest pension fund from 2002 until 2024, when Norway’s fund overtook it.

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) manages the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a defined-contribution retirement savings programme for federal employees and members of the uniformed services. It crossed the $1 trillion mark and is the largest retirement fund in the United States, and the largest defined-contribution plan in the world.

The National Pension Service is South Korea’s public pension fund. Established in 1987, its primary objective is to secure the retirement benefits of Korean citizens, providing income security in cases of retirement, disability, or death. It passed the $1 trillion mark during 2025, making it the fourth pension fund in the world to do so.

Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, commonly known as ABP, is the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands, with over 3 million participants. It is the largest pension fund in Europe outside Norway. The Netherlands is one of only two markets, alongside the UK, to have recorded negative asset growth over the past five years in both local currency and US dollar terms, reflecting a mature system with a large defined benefit legacy.

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is a social insurance plan funded by contributions from employees, employers, and self-employed individuals, along with the returns earned on CPP investments, which are managed by CPP Investments. It serves more than 21 million contributors and beneficiaries across the country.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) manages pensions and health benefits for more than 2 million public employees, retirees and their families in California. It is the largest state-level defined benefit plan in the United States, and a demonstration that a single state system can rival national funds in scale.

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a mandatory social security savings scheme in Singapore, funded by contributions from employers and employees. It serves as a key pillar of Singapore’s social security system and is designed to meet retirement, housing, and healthcare needs, which makes it broader in purpose than most funds on this list.

China’s National Social Security Fund was created as a strategic reserve to support the country’s social security system as its population ages. It is managed by the National Council for Social Security Fund and sits within the Asia-Pacific region, which grew its share of the global top 300 from 25.5% to 26.6% over the year and allocates a higher proportion to equities, at 51.4%, than any other region.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for California’s public school educators, from kindergarten through community college, and their families. It is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world and the second-largest US public pension fund after CalPERS.

Bottom Line

Total assets are a crucial indicator for public pension funds, as scale directly influences the income available to meet future payouts. These funds typically provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to a specific community or the general public, so the larger the fund, the greater its nominal returns and the more comfortably payouts can be met.

Two themes stand out in the latest data. The first is concentration: the 20 largest funds now hold $11.9 trillion, and they grew faster last year than the top 300 as a whole. The Thinking Ahead Institute describes the emergence of investment “hyperscalers”, funds using scale, governance and partnerships to extend their influence rather than simply getting bigger.

The second is divergence between regions. North America still accounts for the largest share of top 300 assets at 44.7%, but that share fell over the year, while Asia-Pacific and Europe both gained ground. The UK and the Netherlands were the only markets to record negative asset growth over five years in both local currency and dollar terms, a reflection of mature systems with large defined benefit legacies rather than of poor investment performance.

Whether you qualify for one of these funds or are simply curious about how they compare, we hope the figures above have been useful.