ZAGREB, October 9, 2019 – There are 438,000 people in Croatia with war veterans’ status, War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said at a round table debate on veterans’ pensions, saying that defenders were a foundation of society and not a burden and that they did not pose a threat to the pension system.
Medved said the round table would focus on the existing legal framework regulating pensions granted under special regulations, including veterans’ pensions.
“We will pay special attention to the structure of the war veteran population, the number of pension beneficiaries, their age and their years of service,” he said.
Ministry data that were presented at the round table show that in September 2019, 508,605 people – living, killed, missing and deceased – had the status of war veteran.
Of that number, 438,262 were living.
The number of veterans – pensioners, with their pensions being divided in nine categories, stood at 151,892 and their average pension amounted to 4,200 kuna (approx. 570 euro).
The highest veterans’ pension, in the amount of 7,000 kuna (946 euro), was received by families of fallen defenders, and the number of beneficiaries in that category was the highest.
Disabled war veterans received an average pension of 5,700 kuna (770 euro).
The number of employed war veterans stood at 190,408 and there were also 6,954 veterans who both worked and received a pension. The number of veterans who were not employed and did not receive a pension stood at 74,627.
The average number of years of service in the war veteran population was 28, while the average number of years of service of disabled veterans was 20.
The average number of years of service of other pension recipients in the country is 30 years, it was said at the round table.
“I expect this round table to send a strong, well-argued message to the public that Croatian defenders-pensioners do not pose any threat to the pension system,” said the minister.
More news about veterans can be found in the Politics section.
