Background information

There is a total of 1.22 million people in retirement in Croatia, or 1.13 million excluding veterans, army, and police. This includes those to whom the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute pays benefits according to international agreements, i.e., only for the part of their length of service that was completed in Croatia. This group of retirees breaks the pension average, because their pensions are very low. The average pension of all retirees in January 2024 amounts to EUR 491, and without those 185,802 retirees, it rises to EUR 508. As more and more pensioners, receive relatively low pensions, many of them are below the poverty line and seriously exposed to vulnerability in the circumstances of relatively high inflation pressure.

Content of measure

The Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted at the session held on 14 March, 2024, the Decision on the payment of one-time cash benefits to mitigate the consequences of growing costs of living. This Decision regulates the payment of a one-time cash benefit to beneficiaries of a pension earned in Croatia in the mandatory pension insurance and to beneficiaries of pensions earned in countries with which Croatia has concluded an international agreement on social insurance or countries that apply the EU regulations on the coordination of social security systems, which have residence in Croatia. The one-time cash benefit is paid to pension beneficiaries from the mandatory pension insurance, if their total monthly pension benefit paid in Croatia for the month of February 2024 does not exceed the amount of EUR 880.

Use of measure

For the amount of total pension income up to EUR 320, the amount of one-time cash benefit is EUR 160; for pension from EUR 320 to 460, it is EUR 120; from EUR 460 to 600, it is EUR 80; from EUR 600 to 730, it is EUR 60; and from EUR 730 to 880, it is EUR 50. 830,000 pensioners are eligible for the mentioned one-time cash benefit. For these expenditures EUR 503 million are earmarked from the central budget.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Older citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Due to the nature of the measure, social partners were not involved. However, they praise various forms of support to pensioners, fully aware that this group of citizens is particularly vulnerable and exposed to poverty.

Views and reactions

Social partners are fully aware of the dire situation of pensioners in Croatia. Therefore, they fully support initiatives aim to alleviate financial burdens and enhance the quality of life for elderly citizens. Such support is vital for ensuring dignified livelihoods for pensioners.

Sources

• 15 March 2024: One-time cash benefits to pensioners (Jednokratna pomoć umirovljenicima) (narodne-novine.nn.hr)
• 22 October 2024: A one-time cash benefit for pensioners (Jednokratni dodatak za umirovljenike) (dnevnik.hr)