Is the UK state pension really the lowest in Europe?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:

(00:42) Is the UK uniquely miserly when it comes to the state pension? That’s the story a viral social media post is telling - but have they adjusted to account for complicated structural differences between national systems? Reader, they have not.

(07:23) In a podcast feud nobody saw coming, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tucker Carlson recently locked horns over whether Russia or UK has a larger economy. Who's right? Only one person can possibly adjudicate this one: Duncan Weldon.

(15:06) What effect did this year’s heatwaves have on excess deaths? We analyse the mortality data and explore how, despite thousands of deaths associated with the heat, 2026 is so far setting a record low mortality rate.

(22:35) And finally, in an ‘and finally’ story to end all ‘and finally’ stories, we finally ask how many times the world population can fit into Loch Ness. And Lake Baikal. And, finally, the Caspian Sea.

Guests:

Heidi Karjalainen – Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies

Stuart McDonald – Partner and Head of Longevity and Demographic Insights at consultancy firm Lane Clark & Peacock

Duncan Weldon – Economist and author of ‘Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict from the Vikings to Ukraine’

Dr Keith Still – Director of Crowd Risk Analysis

Presenter: Tim Harford

Series Producer: Tom Colls

Producers: Nathan Gower, Lizzy McNeill, Kateryna Pavlyuk

Editor: Richard Vadon

Programme Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

Sound Engineer: James Beard

ARCHIVE: The Tucker Carlson Show, YouTube