Aleksandar Vučić released a bag from the budget for pensioners. How then is it possible that they receive less and less in relation to wages and are on the verge of poverty?
Pensioners in Serbia will receive from 26.000 to 41.000 dinars in September from the state of Serbia and its regime. This package of one-time assistance includes the part that the president of the state has personally declared that he has set aside for them, in the amount of 20.000 to 35.000 dinars, depending on the amount of the pension. He will get a half for that 6.000 dinars from the Share Fund, for which the government has already said that they do not have to register.
While the first part will "fall" from September 14, the second part, which follows all other adult citizens of the country, starts from September 22 to 25. which Aleksandar Vučićn and Siniša Mali have been bragging about for days.
To that, the president promised pensioners more "gifts" - a significant increase in pensions already this year, and not from the beginning of next year, because pensions must follow salaries.
"As much as salaries grow, so will pensions," promised Vučić.
However, Siniša Mali quickly said that the increase will follow - in December. So, not in January, but a month before.
After last year's increase in pensions, the average pension amounts to about 57.000 dinars (488 euros), which covers only about half of the average consumer basket, according to the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Vojvodina.
"Almost 60 percent of pensioners receive less than the average pension, which means that a large number cannot afford even the most basic necessities of life," they added. "One in four retirees lives at risk of poverty, and many are forced to continue working after retirement or rely on family support to cover basic living expenses."
Although Serbia formally follows the European trend of gradually increasing the retirement age, the quality of life, the availability of health care and the level of pensions lag significantly behind developed European countries. As a result, many pensioners in Serbia use their income for a relatively short time and face serious financial difficulties, making them spend their old age in insecurity and without dignity, say the union.
The president of the Union of Pensioners of Serbia Nezavisnost Miloš Grabundžija tells Biznis.rs that one-time payments are not enough to live on.
Regarding Vučić's announced premature increase in pensions, Grabundžija says that it is not an extraordinary increase, but a regular annual increase in pensions. If it was extraordinary, he says, it would have been paid in May or June, as before it was adjusted twice a year - on April 1 and October 1.
While Vučić promises that pensions will grow as much as wages, the current comparison calculation is not exactly the best for pensioners. The share of the average pension in the average salary is currently only 46 percent.
"According to the norms of the World Bank, this ratio should be 60 percent, and although our legislation does not have a prescribed minimum limit in this sense, we believe that average pensions should have such a share in the average salary," explains Grabundzija.
He especially points to the fact that slightly more than a million pensioners in Serbia, which is almost two-thirds of their total number, receive pensions that are below the average of 56.800 dinars.
"No country has that," says the president of the Union of Pensioners of Serbia Nezavisnost. He says that they support any favorable solution for pensioners, but they are in favor of one-time increases being included in the average pension. Thus, those who have pensions below the average and below the lowest pension would receive some approximate status "because one does not live on one-time assistance once a year or once every two years".
Grabundžija says that there are 450.000 pensioners in Serbia who receive less than the lowest pension of 31.092 dinars, which is why it is necessary to find a model and a way to raise the income of these people to the lowest pension. According to the proposal of this trade union, this could be done by incorporating into the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance a provision that no new pension can be lower than the minimum pension amount. This would mean that everyone whose calculation shows that they would have less than that, would follow the amount of the lowest pension.
The exact amounts of one-time assistance are divided into three categories, with the highest amount of 35.000 dinars going to pensioners with the lowest incomes.
Thus, pensioners whose monthly pension does not exceed 31.092 dinars will receive 35.000 dinars each. This is precisely the limit for the minimum pension in Serbia for the category of employed and self-employed, which is received by about 300.000 pensioners in the country.
Only agricultural pensioners, who receive 24.443 dinars per month, have less than that. With them in the group are former employees who during their working life had extremely low wages or a minimal number of years of service.
Pensioners with incomes ranging from 31.092 to 56.848 dinars will receive a total of 27.500 dinars, which are beneficiaries whose pension is between the lowest and the average.
Pensioners who have a monthly income of more than 56.848 dinars, that is, above the average pension, regardless of whether it goes up to 200.000 dinars, such as certain military pensions, will certainly receive a follow-up of 20.000 dinars.
Payment for all categories starts automatically on September 14, 2026 through the PIO Fund, without any need to submit an application.
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