February the 4th, 2026 – Croatian pensioners have been declared Europe’s poorest, with their monthly income not even covering 60% of daily costs.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian pensioners bring in significantly less than they need to cover their living coats. The latest research shows that a pensioner in Croatia receives an annual pension of a mere 5,600 euros, while the minimum one needs is around 9,300 euros. Croatia pensioners therefore lack severely and are now at the very bottom of the table among 30 European countries.
Croatia ranked at the bottom of the scale when it comes to the ratio of pension to living costs. The research by the DataPulse agency included the 27 countries of the European Union, as well as Serbia and Montenegro, which didn’t manage to save Croatia from being last place on the table. Croatia arrived there with the data that the Croatian pension covers only 60% of daily living costs, which means that pensioners lack another 40% of the funds to survive the month, reports Mirovina.hr.
Although it’s often pointed out that Slovenian pensions are higher, Slovenia is still right behind Croatia with 39% of the funds needed missing from their pension, while Hungary is a concerning 38% in the red. Serbia and Montenegro, by comparison, are at 25% in the red, while the EU average stands at about 20% of the funds that are missing needed to cover typical monthly expenses.
Romania is at the top, where pensioners still have 21% of their funds left after paying everything, followed by the Czech Republic with 18% in the red. Poland is at 4% in the red, and Spain is at 3%, while pensioners from all other countries have a negative balance.
As many as 90% of Croatian pensioners, as well as those in Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia, live in their own properties, while only 10 percent rent. In countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, there are more people living in rental properties than in their own properties. This is why housing costs in Croatia are significantly lower for most pensioners than for their peers in other European countries. As such, the amount of the pension paid out doesn’t play a role in itself, as is the case in Luxembourg, where pensioners receive more than 34,000 euros per year, but need over 50,000 euros to live on.
Perhaps Croatia wouldn’t be an incredibly shameful last on the table if the newer data from 2024 or 2025 was looked at, given the fact that the country has been continually recording record growth in terms of both pensions and salaries. The average pension according to general regulations at the end of 2023 stood at 452 euros, and at the end of 2025 it amounted to 561 euros. That marked a significant difference of more than a hundred euros, but the cost of living has also increased with an annual inflation rate of over 3%.
