One-third of pensioners earn modest pensions; union urges targeted help

About one third of pensioners in North Macedonia receive modest pensions and the state should find ways to help those with the lowest incomes, the Union of Pensioners' Associations of Macedonia says. Official figures show that roughly 93,000 of the country's 253,000 pensioners get less than 24,000 denars, while the average pension in June stood at 28,103 denars.

Union president Stanka Trajkova warned that measures outside the pension system could be used to target support to low-income pensioners. "Measures outside the pension system are also important for pensioners, especially those with lower pension incomes, and that means that some assistance can be provided to pensioners with lower pensions because at the moment that number stands at 93,000 pension beneficiaries, which, as a figure in the overall structure of pensioners, should not be overlooked," she said.

Pension adjustment mechanism and the coming increase

The government announced that the next regular pension adjustment, scheduled for September, will be performed as a percentage change in line with the law, rather than the linear method used in the past two years. During those two years the state implemented four linear adjustments that gave every pensioner an equal total increase of 7,000 denars.

Under the statutory combined model, the percentage increase is calculated from two components: 50% of the rise in living costs in the previous half-year and 50% of the rise in average wages in the same period. Based on current data, pensions are expected to rise by roughly 3 percent, which means that larger pensions will receive larger nominal increases.

Pensioners are also asking for a change in the adjustment timetable. "Yes, pensions should be adjusted twice a year, but on January 1 and July 1, and not as they are now on March 1 and September 1, because in this way adjustments are effectively shortened by four months a year and, to be specific, those are January, February, July and August. And pensions should be adjusted so that pensioners receive the current adjustment for the full 12 months," Trajkova said, urging lawmakers to reflect this in the pending legal amendments.

Photo: press material from the event