Who actually receives the most pensions in Serbia and according to which rules are they calculated?
According to official data Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance which were published in the monthly newsletter for November 2025, the highest pension in Serbia, which amounts to 255.231,18 dinars, receives a total of 86 citizens.
A member of the Fiscal Council, Nikola Altiparmakov, points out for "Vreme" that these pensions can be received by citizens who had very high salaries during their working experience, as well as a working experience of 40 years.
He underlines that among the recipients of large pensions, a significant share is made up of pensioners who retired before the reform in 2003, during the nineties, when the pension system provided the insured with significant benefits that were not fiscally sustainable in the long term.
These benefits were particularly pronounced in the security sector, so a more detailed analysis of the PIO Fund data shows, for example, that police and military pensions are on average twice as large as other pensions. The interlocutor of Vremen adds that the benefits for insured persons from the security sector have been significantly reduced after the mentioned reform from 2003 and the one carried out in 2011, so now they amount to 20 percent.
He explains that in Serbia, pensions are calculated according to the Bismarck system, and that, of all European countries, the German pension paradigm is followed closest, most faithfully and most successfully in our country.
"It is interesting how it happened. Back in 1922, the Bismarck system was introduced in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and it was one of the most modern laws in Europe. After that, even during the time of the socialist system, we followed it quite closely. Then, by reforming the system in 2003, when Gordana Matkoviฤ was minister, we introduced a point system that extremely consistently follows the German pension paradigm," says Altiparmakov.
He adds that the pension calculation system depends on two things. The first is how big your salary is (annual personal point), and the second is how long you have been working.
"If you have a large pension, it should be a consequence of the fact that during your working life you had high salaries and worked for a long time. After the last increase, the value of the general point is 1.675 dinars. For someone who had an average salary and worked for 40 years, his pension would be that 1.675 dinars times 40. Thus, we get that for someone who had an average salary throughout his working life, and worked for 40 years, he has a pension of 67.000 dinars", notes Altiparmakov.
According to him, pension contributions are paid up to five average earnings, and that this is the limit for the payment of contributions.
He reminds that the Law on PIO stipulates that the personal coefficient for pension calculation, which represents the ratio of personal salary to the average salary in Serbia during the working life, cannot be higher than 3,8, even if the insured paid contributions on earnings that are five times higher than the average.
"It is a kind of redistribution of income, that those who earn the most are partly in solidarity with those who have low wages," says Altiparmakov.
Also, a maximum of 45 years of service can be included in the pension calculation, even if someone has worked longer.
That is why the highest pension is legally limited and, according to Article 78 of the Law on PIO, cannot exceed 286.368,57 dinars per month, regardless of the amount of payments during the working life.
Five days before the elections, Siniลกa Mali said that an agreement had been signed regarding the sale of NIS. The MOL immediately denied it, and Malog's office told "Vreme" that "everything is clear".
Siniลกa Mali claims that the Hungarian MOL signed the contract on the sale of NIS. What does the identity card of this Hungarian giant say? What kind of company is MOL?
The Hungarian company MOL has signed an agreement to take over the majority Russian share in the Serbian Oil Industry, Siniลกa Mali told Bloomberg. What kind of customer is MOL?
The first pipes through which American gas should flow have arrived in Serbia. The whole project dragged on for years, only to suddenly heat up with an accelerated process this year. The EU is not enthusiastic about the American partners for Serbia either
Highly qualified workers are also leaving EPS in increasing numbers, while problems are piling up in the company: profits were partly achieved thanks to the postponement of necessary investments, while the production of coal and electricity fell
There is, literally, no difference between the one who claims it is day in the middle of the night, or the one who claims to be a giraffe, from the claims we read on billboards: that Vuฤiฤ is working to unify Serbs and that Serbia is doing better and better day by day.
The pre-election arrests due to the alleged "overthrow of the state" testify to the regime's panic. The bad news for them is - they can't arrest the whole people who decided to defend themselves from progressive beatings and election theft
The ring that tightens around ฤaciland Student list is getting narrower. Because there are more and more spoiled people who see the false prophet for what he is: a street obscener who is fighting Serbia
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
