Depending on where in the world they live, workers have very different views on retirement — not just on when to retire and what to expect during retirement, but how many years they can finance with retirement savings.

So says the Towers Watson Global Benefit Attitudes Survey, a survey of more than 22,000 employees in 12 economies. Responses revealed, as might be expected after years of global financial turmoil, that a large percentage of employees, no matter where they live, are pessimistic about their financial situations. Between 40-80 percent are uneasy not just about their financial futures, but also about their current finances, with those in Brazil, Chile and Mexico the most concerned.

But retirement is the big issue here, with only 20-40 percent of employees in the developed economies of Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. expecting that they will experience the same or better standards of living in retirement than earlier generations.