Life After Retirement: Exploring the Survival Strategies of SSNIT Pensioners in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

Ghana’s elderly population represents about 6.7% of the national populace. They comprise persons aged sixty years and above, including retirees. The main source of income for some of these individuals, particularly those who worked in the formal sector is the monthly pension they receive as compensation for contributing to Ghana’s public pension scheme known as the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) while they were working. However, some beneficiaries of the scheme have raised concerns about the inadequacy of the pension income. Old age is accompanied by other social, economic, and health issues that tend to be detrimental to one’s well-being. In this study, the survival strategies adopted by SSNIT pensioners to assuage the challenges they encounter, mainly due to inadequate pensions were explored. The mixed-methods research design was employed to gather data from 437 respondents. Whereas the quantitative findings were analyzed via the Stata software, the framework approach was adopted to analyze the qualitative data. The majority (78.7%) of the pensioners indicated that their pensions were insufficient to meet their needs. In their quest to address the challenges confronting them, the pensioners either adopted survival strategies they considered suitable or resorted to other non-prioritized coping mechanisms perceived to be relevant only in times of urgent necessity. Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations for policy and practice were presented.