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 projected benefit obligations for non-U.S. defined benefit plans was $3.3 billion and $2.7 billion at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The accumulated benefit obligations for all defined benefit plans were $10.2 billion and $8.3 billion at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

For plans where the accumulated benefit obligations exceeded plan assets at December 31, 2019 and 2018, the aggregate accumulated benefit obligations, the projected benefit obligations and the aggregate plan assets were as follows:

In 2017, Abbott recognized a $10 million curtailment gain related to the sale of AMO.

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 losses of $944 million for defined benefit plans and a loss of $190 million for medical and dental plans in 2019; net actuarial losses of $86 million for defined benefit plans and a gain of $53 million for medical and dental plans in 2018; net actuarial losses of $247 million for defined benefit plans and $97 million for medical and dental plans in 2017. The change in net actuarial losses in 2019 primarily relates to lower discount rates at December 31, 2019 compared to December 31, 2018, partially offset by the impact of actual 2019 asset returns in excess of expected returns.

The pretax amount of actuarial losses and prior service cost (credits) included in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) at December 31, 2019 that is expected to be recognized in the net periodic benefit cost in 2020 is $253 million and $1 million of expense, respectively, for defined benefit pension plans and $32 million of expense and $28 million of income, respectively, for medical and dental plans.

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. A one-percentage point increase/(decrease) in the assumed health care cost trend rate would increase/(decrease) the accumulated post-employment benefit obligations as of December 31, 2019, by $221 million /$(179) million, and the total of the service and interest cost components of net post-employment health care cost for the year then ended by approximately $12 million/$(9) million.

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.

Note 15 — Post Employment Benefits (Continued)

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

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

(g)	Primarily asset backed securities and an actively managed, diversified fixed income vehicle benchmarked to the one-month Libor / Euribor.

(h)

Primarily 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 energy funds.

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

(k)

In accordance with ASU 2015-07, 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 that are valued using significant other observable inputs 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 month, with a required 7 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, 2019 and 2018. Fixed income securities in a common collective trust or a registered investment company that are valued using significant other observable inputs 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 and commodities 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, 2019 and 2018. Investments in these funds may be generally redeemed monthly or quarterly with required notice periods ranging from 5 to 90 days. For approximately $235 million and $100 million of the absolute return funds, redemptions are subject to a 33 percent gate and a 25 percent gate, respectively, and $45 million is subject to a lock until 2022. For commodities, investments in the private energy funds cannot be redeemed but the funds will make distributions through liquidation. The estimate of the liquidation period for each fund ranges from 2020 to 2022. Abbott’s unfunded commitments in these funds as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 were not significant. Investments in the private funds (excluding private energy funds) cannot be redeemed but the funds will make distributions through liquidation. The estimate of the liquidation period for each fund ranges from 2020 to 2029. Abbott’s unfunded commitment in these funds was $571 million and $518 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Note 15 — Post-Employment Benefits (Continued)

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 $382 million in 2019 and $114 million in 2018 to defined pension plans. Abbott expects to contribute approximately $387 million to its pension plans in 2020.

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
2020	$	315	$	76
2021		325		78
2022		342		79
2023		360		80
2024		382		82
2025 to 2029		2,219		421

The Abbott Stock Retirement Plan is the principal defined contribution plan. Abbott’s contributions to this plan were $158 million in 2019, $146 million in 2018 and $79 million in 2017. The 2018 contributions include amounts related to participants of the St. Jude Medical Retirement Plan which was terminated in January 2018.