“Pension fund assets in OECD countries hit a record USD 20.1 trillion in 2011 but return on investment fell below zero, with an average negative return of -1.7%s, according to the OECD’s latest Pension Markets in Focus. The report says that weak equity markets and low interest rates drove the poor performance. The best performing pension funds came from Denmark (12.1%), the Netherlands (8.2%), Australia (4.1%) and Iceland (2.3%). Funds in Spain, the United States, Italy and Japan had negative returns ranging from -2.2% to -3.6%. Seven countries, including Finland, Greece, Austria and Poland, saw returns worse than -4% in real terms.”