Govt presents more detailed figures on pensions, retirees in Greece

Author: newsroom  | Published: June 26, 2015

4,5 mln pension payments made in May 2015, of which 2.9 mln are primary pensions, rest supplementary

The number of pensioners in Greece totaled 2,656,007 in May, with pension payments totaling just more than 2.352 billion euros during that month, a report by the labor ministry revealed on Friday.

A total of 4,551,074 pensions were paid, 2,905,118 were primary pensions, with the rest identified as supplementary ones.
The report stated that the average monthly pension in Greece 665.36 euros a month, with the majority of pensions ranging from 500 to 1,000 euros.

The average monthly (primary) pension figure was the “ammunition” needed by the leftist government’s alternate social insurances minister to state:

“These figures prove, again, that the views expressed by the ‘institutions’ regarding pension payments (in Greece) are totally groundless, as the average primary pension is 665.36 euros and the average supplementary pension is 168.47 euros,”
According to the same figures, the majority of primary pensions is between 500 and 1,000 euros.

What’s also noteworthy is the figure showing that 1.283 million retirees receive only one pension; 955,327 receive two pensions while 336,801 individuals receive … three pensions. Amongst others, the report states (tongue in cheek) that “… A very limited number (pensioners) receive more than 7 (seven) pensions”.

In further breakdown, the report state that 25 percent of Greek pensioners exceed the age of 81; 32 percent are between the ages of 71 and 80; 38 percent between the age of 51 and 70, and 1 percent under the age of 25 (mostly probably disability pensions).

Interestingly, the number of pensioners under the age of 51 percent is not presented, although the simply addition of the aforementioned percentages adds up to 96 percent — i.e. the remainder is 4 percent.
Finally, the highest pensions are found in the category for retirees between ages 56 to 65.

“These figures prove, once more, that views expressed by the institutions over pension payments in the country are totally groundless, as the average basic pension was 665.36 euros and the average supplementary pension was 168.47 euros,” Alternate Social Insurance Minister Dimitris Stratoulis said in a statement.