Poland's pension gap hits extremes: from a few groszy to 54,000 zloty a month
Poland's Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) has revealed that monthly pension payments in the country range from a couple of groszy to over 54,000 zloty. The agency's head explains why the gap is so large.
The highest and the lowest pension
According to data from Poland's Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) for June this year, the country's highest pension — 54,072 zloty a month — goes to a resident of the Silesian voivodeship. The second-highest, 53,500 zloty, also goes to someone in Silesia, while the third-highest, 45,300 zloty a month, is paid to a resident of the Masovian voivodeship. Both Next Gazeta.pl and Bankier.pl report these figures.
At the other extreme, some people in Poland receive as little as 2 groszy a month — cases found in the Lower Silesian and Lublin voivodeships. ZUS explains that under Poland's system, anyone who has worked even a single day is entitled to a pension, but to receive the minimum pension (1,978.49 zloty), women need 20 years of work record and men need 25.
Why pensions differ so much
ZUS president Liwiusz Laska, quoted by Next Gazeta.pl/PAP, said the very highest pensions go to people who worked until as late as age 80. He pointed to three factors that boost pensions: a longer working life, indexation of contributions (averaging over 10% a year over the past decade), and deferring retirement — an extra year of work can raise a pension by 14–15%, while for women, delaying retirement by five years can even double the payout.
Bankier.pl, meanwhile, highlights a different set of three factors behind record pensions: additional contributions, capital indexation, and a shorter projected payout period.
The gender pension gap
As reported by Next Gazeta.pl, Laska acknowledged that Poland also has a so-called gender pension gap — last year the average pension was 3,885 zloty, reaching 4,800 zloty for men but only 3,000 zloty for women. However, indexation applied after age 65 narrows this gap, from roughly 1,500 zloty down to a few hundred zloty, cutting the gap at least in half. The same source notes that 473,000 people currently receive pensions below the minimum level, and Laska believes such so-called "grosz pensions" should be reorganized — for instance, paid out as a lump sum once a year.
