Out of a total of 533,292 pension recipients, around 309,000 pensioners, or 58 percent of the total, receive a pension below the poverty line. As many as 51,889 pensioners receive a pension of less than 500 euros a month. The hardship is growing, with the coalition taking 60 percent of one month’s pension from each pensioner.
The latest data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia on the risk of poverty shows that the poverty line for a one-person household is 903 euros per month, and for a two-person household without children, it is 1,354 euros. Pension data show that 308,981 pensioners (out of a total of 533,292) received a pension of less than 900 euros in November 2024, according to the latest published data from the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZPIZ).
Pensions are lagging behind
Pensions are thus lagging behind, and the situation was particularly critical in 2023. At that time, pensions were even lower, with the Golob government taking 60 percent of the monthly pension from pensioners. It will be difficult, if ever possible, to make up the difference. In fact, the government bilked pensioners and disabled people out of a 4.5 percent rise in pensions and allowances in 2023. Public sector salaries have risen, but pensions and allowances have not, even though the ruling coalition that consists of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda), the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) and the Left party (Levica) adopted a decision and promised that the amounts of pensions and allowances would be increased by 4.5 percent. However, this has not happened.
Golob made promises but did not deliver
On the 24th of October 2022, Robert Golob, the Prime Minister, said in the National Assembly: “Finally, on the issue of pay rises. Yes, it is true, the wages in the public sector have been brought into line with inflation, which we say is 10 percent, at a 4.5 percent level. It is true that pensioners will also get this. You asked me when. On Thursday this week. The law is already prepared and is in the government procedure, and on Thursday this week, we will pass a law in the government for the same 4.5% regular adjustment of pensions. Not for supplements, not for candies, a regular adjustment of pensions.” Luka Mesec, Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, said similar things after the government meeting on the 27th of October 2022.
Nevertheless, it was all just words. The coalition has failed to deliver on its own decisions and commitments, which is why the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) parliamentary group has requested an urgent meeting of the relevant parliamentary committee. It proposed adopting a decision to pay pensioners the difference to the 4.5 percent of the monthly pension rise they were deprived of in 2023. However, the coalition MPs rejected SDS’s demands.
The Pension and Disability Insurance Institute confirmed that pensions have been reduced in real terms
Then, in the summer of 2023, the annual report of the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute was published, confirming that pensions had fallen in real terms in 2023. While the government increased social transfers by 10.3 percent in 2023, it only raised pensions for pensioners and people with disabilities by 5.2 percent. Annual inflation averaged 7.4 percent, and food prices even rose by 19 percent.
According to the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute, old-age pensions fell by 2.1 percent, disability pensions by 2.7 percent, and widow’s and family members’ pensions by 2.4 percent. Based on official data on pension growth and average inflation, pensioners were deprived of at least 60 percent of one month’s pension in 2023, as calculated by MP Karmen Furman (SDS).
While the government did pay some supplements of 4.5 percent at the end of 2023, these were only one-off monthly amounts that were not counted towards the pension base. The government of Janez Janša came closest to pensioners and people with disabilities. Measures such as a threefold solidarity allowance for pensioners, free transport throughout Slovenia, an energy voucher and an extraordinary adjustment of pensions were implemented at that time.
In 2024, the Golob government carried out a regular adjustment of pensions in accordance with the law, and pensions increased by 8.8 percent, but we also saw high inflation. The extraordinary pension adjustment did not take place in 2024, although the financial and social situation of Slovenian pensioners deteriorated significantly due to unfulfilled coalition promises.
Privileged people receive a total of several thousand euros in pensions
The vile Golob government is treating pensioners and the disabled in a completely different way when it comes to granting so-called extraordinary pensions to privileged individuals for “outstanding achievements in the field of art”. Under this law, the privileged few are expected to receive high supplements of up to 1,500 euros, which could mean a total pension with supplements of more than 3,000 euros, or even 3,500 to 4,000 euros, according to some reports. The SDS party warns that such allowances are destroying the pension system, as they privilege certain groups and divide citizens into first- and second-class citizens.
The law was approved by the coalition in the National Assembly in December 2024, but the exact figures on the total cost of pension supplements are not publicly available.
Vida Kocjan
