Maltese pensions: Government reluctant to produce figures

The government is taking its time to provide figures on the income of approximately 101,000 pensioners on the island. Despite the availability of this information through data collected in IT systems, it seems that it is not easily accessible with just a click of a button.

PN MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici has been pressing Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon with a series of parliamentary questions, seeking a list of the number of elderly who receive pensions of less than €500, €600, or €700 per month. Yet despite repeated questions over the past few weeks, the minister has stated he could not provide this information because “data was still being gathered.”

Currently, the maximum pensionable income is set at €27,629 annually, which translates to a maximum pension of approximately €14,500 per year, regardless of the income declared by beneficiaries throughout their 40 years of contributions.

However, the average pension received by most is significantly lower. According to the most recent NSO statistics from 2022, the majority of pensioners receive less than €900 per month, which is among the lowest average pension rates in the EU. In comparison, the EU’s average pension was €1,344 per month last year.

It is estimated that thousands of pensioners receive under €600 per month, placing them at risk of poverty. In recent years, the government has introduced various budget initiatives aimed at increasing average pensions, including cost-of-living top-ups and one-off benefits.

Additionally, starting this year, all individuals born after 1975 will be required to work an extra year to qualify for a pension.

NSO statistics for 2024 indicate that 29.7% of those over 65 years are classified as being at risk of poverty, representing an increase of 0.7% from 2023. This means that even with a pension, one in three seniors is living in or at risk of poverty.

In general, statistics for 2024 show that approximately 16.8% of Malta’s population—around 92,690 individuals—are living in households with a national equivalised income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold of €12,258 per year. This marks a slight increase from 16.6% in 2023.