Which countries have the highest and lowest pensions in Europe?
In the EU, there is still pressure on pensions to be adequate in the future. Pensions for women are still much lower than those for males. Large variations in pension levels continue among countries.
According to the OECD’s Pension at a Glance 2023 study, pensions constitute the primary source of income for older adults in Europe.
Public transfers, such as state pensions and benefits, make up more than 70%, and in certain situations, more than 80%, of older adults’ total equivalised gross household income in many European nations.
So how much do Europeans receive in old-age pensions? What is the average pension expenditure per beneficiary? And how do pension levels compare across Europe when adjusted for purchasing power?
The average pension spending per beneficiary for old-age pensions in the EU in 2022 was €16,138, according to Eurostat. When spread out over 12 months, this comes to about €1,345 a month.
Pensions for EU candidates are the lowest. The lowest average pensions are found in EU candidate nations, with the exception of Albania.
These consist of Montenegro (€3,962), Serbia (€3,486), Bosnia and Herzegovina (€3,041), and Turkey (€2,942).
Only a slight difference separates Montenegro from Bulgaria. These numbers, which show the significant difference between the lowest and highest pension amounts in Europe, are annual rather than monthly.
All four of the EU’s “Big Four” economies outperformed the EU average in their respective rankings. At €19,589, Italy had the highest average pension of all of them, followed by Germany (€17,926), France (€18,855), and Spain (€18,100).
With pension benefits significantly greater in Western and Nordic Europe, there is a clear East-West split.
Although they still lag behind Northern Europe, Southern European nations often do better than Eastern ones.
The Eastern EU and the Balkans have the worst performers, especially among EU candidate nations.
In 2022, pensions declined in three nations. Only three nations saw a decrease in average pensions in 2022 compared to 2021, and by less than 5% in euro terms.
Greece, Ireland, and Turkey were among them. The main cause of the drop in Turkey was the severe devaluation of the national currency, which had an impact on pensions’ euro value.
Is Pension Income enough to maintain living standards?
The European Commission and the Social Protection Committee collaborated to prepare the 2024 Pension Adequacy Report, which states that while EU nations are making additional efforts to ensure adequacy, pressure on future adequacy persists.
Over the next forty years, it is anticipated that pension replacement rates for a particular career will decrease.
The risk of poverty and social exclusion among older people has continued to rise since 2019, mainly driven by increasing relative income poverty.
In 2022, more than one in five people aged 65 and over in the EU about 18.5 million individuals were at danger of poverty or social exclusion.
This number is expanding due to both the rising poverty rate and the ageing population.
According to the survey, elderly women are more likely than males to live in poverty in every EU nation.
In the EU, women typically earn 26.1% less in pensions than males do, and 5.3% of them do not receive any pensions at all.
These differences stem from shorter or interrupted careers, a higher prevalence of part-time work among women, and gender wage disparities.
Source: Euro News
