In most cases, widows’ pensions aim at status maintenance, and benefits are calculated as a percentage of the deceased partner’s benefit or earnings. In general, widow’s benefits are lower than retirement pensions, at around 50 to 80 per cent of the deceased’s benefit (Choi 2006:16). In contrast, some countries (e.g., Ireland, Lithuania and the United Kingdom)offer only a flat-rate benefit to survivors, while others (e.g., Denmark and Sweden) have a non-familial approach to old age protection, paying no benefits to survivors but providing everyone with access to a universal basic pension (Saraceno and Keck 2011:392).