The situation of retired people in Portugal continues to raise serious concerns, in a context marked by low pensions, strong inequalities and an increasingly high cost of living. A recent study by the Bank of Portugal paints a detailed portrait of Portuguese pensioners and reveals a less than encouraging reality for a significant part of the elderly population.
Entitled “Old-age pensioners in Portugal: an analysis with microdata”, the study analyzes around 2.5 million public pensioners, who represent approximately 23% of the national population. The data refer to last year and show a system heavily concentrated on low-value pensions, with a tendency towards lower pensions for pensioners over 80 years of age.
Half of retirees from the general Social Security regime in Portugal received less than 462 euros per month, while the average pension was 645 euros, according to the economics portal Ekonomista. Only 5% of retirees earned more than 1,685 euros per month, showing a very unequal distribution of income in old age.
Low pensions remain the rule
According to the study, the proximity between the average pension and the 75th percentile value indicates that the majority of retirees receive amounts well below the average. This reality reflects incomplete contributory careers, historically low wages and persistent inequalities in the Portuguese labor market.
In 2024, around 40% of retirees, equivalent to 804 thousand people, were receiving the minimum pension. The values varied between 319.49 euros for contributory careers of less than 15 years and 462.28 euros for careers of more than 30 years. This situation places a significant part of the elderly population at risk of economic vulnerability, especially in a context of inflation and a general increase in the prices of essential goods.
Who are Portuguese pensioners
Of the 2.5 million old-age pensioners in public schemes, around two million belong to the Social Security system and approximately 440 thousand to the Caixa Geral de Aposentações, a subsystem closed to new registrations since 2006 and aimed at former public servants.
The average age of retirees in Portugal is 75 years old. Women live, on average, 15 months longer than men, a factor that directly influences the profile and duration of pensions.
Gender inequalities remain striking
Differences between men and women continue to be one of the most worrying dimensions of the system. In 2024, the average pension for women was 490 euros, around 40% lower than that for men. When old-age pensions are added to survivors’ pensions, this difference reduces to 28%, showing the relevant role of these benefits in reducing inequalities among older retirees, according to the same source.
The incidence of minimum pensions is much higher among women. In 2024, 60% of female pensioners received minimum pensions, compared to just 19% of men. Despite this, the gender gap has been gradually decreasing, going from 44% in 2018 to 40% in 2024.
Older age, lower pensions
Analysis by age group reveals another clear trend: the older the age, the lower the pension value tends to be. Pensioners under 65 years old had an average pension close to 770 euros, while among those over 80 years old this value dropped to around 537 euros.
This phenomenon is associated with shorter contributory careers and lower average wages in older generations.
Early retirement continues to weigh on
In 2024, 38% of new pensioners retired before the legal age, set at 66.3 years. Another 32% retired at exactly that age and 31% chose to continue working beyond the legal limit. Early retirement has a significant impact on the final pension value. Penalties can exceed 20%, as a result of the sustainability factor, set at 14.67%, and the additional cut of 0.5% for each month in advance.
Even so, the average retirement age has been increasing, from 64.7 years in 2019 to 65.4 years in 2024. Provisional estimates point to the legal retirement age reaching 66 years and 11 months in 2027.
Working after retirement is an option for few
Around 10% of new retirees continued to work after starting pension payments. This group, however, presents a very specific profile, according to the previously cited source.
The data indicates that those who continue to work receive, on average, a pension of 933 euros, while retirees who completely stop working receive 591 euros. This suggests that incentives to prolong working life mainly benefit those who already have higher pensions. Bonuses, which can reach 1% for each month of work after legal age, have a limited impact for those who receive minimum pensions or those close to the poverty line.
System sustainability at risk
European Commission projections indicate that, without structural reforms, the average pension could fall from 69.4% of the last salary in 2022 to just 38.5% in 2050, putting sustainability and confidence in the public pension system at risk, according to .
The Banco de Portugal study thus leaves a clear warning: without significant changes, poverty in old age could become an even more serious problem in the coming decades.
Also read:
