Retirement plans consist of defined benefit, defined contribution and medical and dental plans. Information for Abbott’s major defined benefit plans and post-employment medical and dental benefit plans is as follows:

The $463 million of defined benefit plan gains in 2021 that decreased the projected benefit obligations primarily reflect the year-over-year increase in the discount rates used to measure the obligations. The $1.3 billion of defined benefit plan losses in 2020 that increased the projected benefit obligations primarily reflect the year-over-year decline in the discount rates used to measure the obligations. The projected benefit obligations for non-U.S. defined benefit plans were $3.7 billion and $4.1 billion at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The accumulated benefit obligations for all defined benefit plans were $11.5 billion and $11.9 billion at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

For plans where the projected benefit obligations exceeded plan assets at December 31, 2021 and 2020, the projected benefit obligations and the aggregate plan assets were as follows:

For plans where the accumulated benefit obligations exceeded plan assets at December 31, 2021 and 2020, the aggregate accumulated benefit obligations, the projected benefit obligations and the aggregate plan assets were as follows:

Other comprehensive income (loss) for each respective year includes the amortization of actuarial losses and prior service costs (credits) as noted in the previous table. Other comprehensive income (loss) for each respective year also includes: net actuarial gains of $1.141 billion for defined benefit plans and a gain of $45 million for medical and dental plans in 2021; net actuarial losses of $611 million for defined benefit plans and a gain of $23 million for medical and dental plans in 2020, and net actuarial losses of $944 million for defined benefit plans and a loss of $190 million for medical and dental plans in 2019. The net actuarial gains in 2021 are primarily due to the favorable impact of actual asset returns in excess of expected returns and the year-over-year increase in discount rates. The net actuarial losses in 2020 are primarily due to the year-over-year decline in discount rates partially offset by the impact of actual asset returns in excess of expected returns.

The weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations for defined benefit plans and medical and dental plans are as follows:

The weighted average assumptions used to determine the net cost for defined benefit plans and medical and dental plans are as follows:

The assumed health care cost trend rates for medical and dental plans at December 31 were as follows:

The discount rates used to measure liabilities were determined based on high-quality fixed income securities that match the duration of the expected retiree benefits. The health care cost trend rates represent Abbott’s expected annual rates of change in the cost of health care benefits and are forward projections of health care costs as of the measurement date.

The following table summarizes the bases used to measure the defined benefit and medical and dental plan assets at fair value:

(a)	A mix of index funds and actively managed equity accounts that are benchmarked to various large cap indices.

(b)	A mix of index funds and actively managed equity accounts that are benchmarked to various mid and small cap indices.

(c)	A mix of index funds and actively managed pooled investment funds that are benchmarked to various non-U.S. equity indices in both developed and emerging markets.

(d)	A mix of index funds and actively managed accounts that are benchmarked to various U.S. government bond indices.

(e)	A mix of index funds and actively managed accounts that are benchmarked to various corporate bond indices.

(f)	Primarily United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Eurozone government bonds.

Note 13 — Post-Employment Benefits (Continued)

(g)	Primarily asset backed securities, bank loans and actively managed, diversified fixed income vehicles benchmarked to Libor.

(h)

Primarily hedge funds and funds invested by managers that have a global mandate with the flexibility to allocate capital broadly across a wide range of asset classes and strategies including, but not limited to equities, fixed income, commodities, interest rate futures, currencies and other securities to outperform an agreed upon benchmark with specific return and volatility targets.

(i)	Primarily investments in private funds, such as private equity, private credit, private real estate and private energy funds.

(j)

Investments measured at fair value using the net asset value (NAV) practical expedient have not been classified in the fair value hierarchy. The fair value amounts presented in this table are intended to permit reconciliation of the fair value hierarchy to the amounts presented in the consolidated balance sheet.

Equities that are valued using quoted prices are valued at the published market prices. Equities in a common collective trust or a registered investment company are valued at the NAV provided by the fund administrator. The NAV is based on the value of the underlying assets owned by the fund minus its liabilities. For approximately half of these funds, investments may be redeemed once per week or month, with a required 2 to 30 day notice period. For the remaining funds, daily redemption of an investment is allowed. Fixed income securities that are valued using significant other observable inputs are valued at prices obtained from independent financial service industry recognized vendors. Abbott did not have any unfunded commitments related to fixed income funds at December 31, 2021 and 2020. Fixed income securities in a common collective trust or a registered investment company are valued at the NAV provided by the fund administrator. For the majority of these funds, investments may be redeemed either weekly or monthly, with a required 2 to 14 day notice period. For the remaining funds, investments may be generally redeemed daily.

Absolute return funds are valued at the NAV provided by the fund administrator. All private funds are valued at the NAV provided by the fund on a one-quarter lag adjusted for known cash flows and significant events through the reporting date. Abbott did not have any unfunded commitments related to absolute return funds at December 31, 2021 and 2020. Investments in these funds may be generally redeemed monthly or quarterly with required notice periods ranging from 5 to 90 days. For approximately $290 million and $150 million of the absolute return funds, redemptions are subject to a 33 percent gate and a 25 percent gate, respectively, and $50 million is subject to a lock until 2022. Investments in the private funds cannot be redeemed but the funds will make distributions through liquidation. The estimate of the liquidation period for each fund ranges from 2022 to 2031. Abbott’s unfunded commitment in these funds was $585 million and $523 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

The investment mix of equity securities, fixed income and other asset allocation strategies is based upon achieving a desired return, as well as balancing higher return, more volatile equity securities with lower return, less volatile fixed income securities. Investment allocations are made across a range of markets, industry sectors, capitalization sizes, and in the case of fixed income securities, maturities and credit quality. The plans do not directly hold any securities of Abbott. There are no known significant concentrations of risk in the plans’ assets. Abbott’s medical and dental plans’ assets are invested in a similar mix as the pension plan assets. The actual asset allocation percentages at year end are consistent with the company’s targeted asset allocation percentages.

The plans’ expected return on assets, as shown above is based on management’s expectations of long-term average rates of return to be achieved by the underlying investment portfolios. In establishing this assumption, management considers historical and expected returns for the asset classes in which the plans are invested, as well as current economic and capital market conditions.

Abbott funds its domestic pension plans according to IRS funding limitations. International pension plans are funded according to similar regulations. Abbott funded $418 million in 2021 and $400 million in 2020 to defined pension plans. Abbott expects to contribute approximately $415 million to its pension plans in 2022.

Note 13 — Post-Employment Benefits (Continued)

Total benefit payments expected to be paid to participants, which includes payments funded from company assets, as well as paid from the plans, are as follows:


	Defined		Medical and
(in millions)	Benefit Plans		Dental Plans
2022	$	350	$	75
2023		365		75
2024		387		77
2025		408		78
2026		429		79
2027 to 2031		2,485		410

The Abbott Stock Retirement Plan is the principal defined contribution plan. Abbott’s contributions to this plan were $181 million in 2021, $164 million in 2020 and $158 million in 2019.