Contrary to the common perception that Greek pensioners are more privileged than their European counterparts regarding retirement age, data published by the E-governance in Social Insurance (IDIKA), the country’s social security aggregator and data collection system, revealed that they are among the oldest in Europe.
According to an analysis carried out by the Union for the Defense of Labor and the Welfare State (ENYPEKK-Greece standing up), a political party led by a leading expert on issues of social security and insurance, Alexis Mitropoulos, Greek pensioners are among the oldest in Europe, with eight out of ten being over the age of 65. Their numbers approach two million out of a total of 2.497 million retirees, including those receiving disability pensions.
The majority of retirees in Greece (60%) are over the age of 71, with a median pension of €882 gross, before taxes and deductions.
Only 5% of retirees are under 50 years old, approximately 115,000 individuals—mainly recipients of widowhood and disability pensions. Retirees between the ages of 55 and 60 make up just 4.4% of the total.
“The official data from the Ministry of Labor refute those who, in recent years, falsely claimed (to justify pension cuts and raise retirement ages) that Greeks retire significantly earlier than other Europeans,” emphasized Alexis Mitropoulos, professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and president of ENYPEKK.
Women insured in Greece, who already earn significantly lower wages than men, are the first to be impacted. The gender pay gap in Greece stands at 10%, rising to 15% in the private sector, where women earn only 85% of what men receive.
Similarly, as noted in the IDIKA report, male retirees in the old-age category outnumber female retirees and receive higher average pension payments. According to the latest available Eurostat data, the gender pension gap in Greece reaches 24%.
