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Romania had 5.132 million pensioners in Q2 2020, down by 1,000 compared to the previous quarter, while the average monthly pension was 1,436 lei - by 0.9 percent higher compared to Q1, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced on Friday.
There were 4.676 million retirees of the social security system, by 6,000 more than in Q1, collecting an average monthly pension of 1,380 lei. The ratio of the average old age and full length of service public social security pension (tax and social health insurance contribution excluded) to the net average wage was 51 percent (as to 50.8 percent in Q1 2020).
The average real pension index against the previous quarter, calculated as the ratio of the nominal pension index for the calculation of the real pension and the consumer price index, was 100.1 percent.
The average number of retirees was by 27,000 less in Q2 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2019, while retirees of the public social security system were by 6,000 more YoY. The average monthly pension and the average social security pension increased from the year-ago period by 16.3 percent each.
Compared to Q1 2020, the average number of retirees was by 1,000 lower, and the average number of public social insurance retirees increased by 6,000. The average monthly pension and the average public social security pension were up 0.9 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, from the previous quarter.
According to INS, in Q2 2020 social security retirees made up the overwhelming majority (99.98 pct) of the total number of pensioners. Public social security pensioners accounted for 91.1 pct of the total number of social security pensioners. By categories, the number of old-age pensioners was predominant (78.2 pct) among social security pensioners. The pensioners included in the early and part-time early retirement categories accounted for 2.1 pct.
The total ratio of the average number of public social security pensioners and wage earners was 9 to 10, with significant variations locally, from only 5 pensioners to 10 employees in Bucharest, to 16 pensioners to 10 employees in Teleorman County, 15 to 10 in Giurgiu and Vaslui, and 14 to 10 in the counties of Botosani and Calarasi.
The average public social security pension varied significantly, with the average difference between the minimum and the maximum pension standing at 736 lei (1,098 lei in Botosani County, 1,105 lei in Giurgiu County, 1,122 lei in Vrancea County versus 1,834 lei in in Hunedoara County, 1,743 lei in Bucharest City and 1,639 lei in Brasov County).
The total number of beneficiaries of the provisions of the Government's Emergency Ordinance No. 6/2009 on the establishment of the guaranteed minimum social security pension (currently called social security allowance) in Q2 2020 was 961,400 persons, of whom 803,300 persons in the public social security system (17.2 pct of all the pensioners in this category); 154,800 persons from the former farmers' pension system (57.5 pct of the total category), and 3,300 from the military system (1.8 pct of the total in this category).
