The latest pension numbers are out, we know how much most pensioners are getting now

The Central Statistical Office has published this year’s pension report – Bankmonitor noticed. According to the summary, at the beginning of 2024, a quarter of Hungary’s population, 2 million 423 thousand people, received a pension or other benefits falling under the scope of pension payments.

• In addition to the two million old-age pensioners
• benefits for 244,000 people with altered work ability,
• 99,000 pension benefits for relatives,
• 31 thousand age-based benefits (for those under the age limit),
• 52,000 received other allowances and stipends as the main benefit.

In accordance with the trend of recent years, the number of beneficiaries continued to decrease in 2024, but at the same time, the proportion of beneficiaries within the population increased slightly. The number of old-age pensioners did not change significantly. The number of people receiving a dependent’s pension as the main benefit has halved in 13 years, among other things because as time progressed, fewer and fewer elderly people remained in the pension system who could not obtain an old-age pension in their own right. Since 2012, age-based benefits have been established only in exceptional cases, the number of people with altered working capacity receiving rehabilitation benefits has dropped to a fraction due to the temporary nature of their benefits.

The portal highlighted

• most of them currently receive an annuity of HUF 160,000 to 180,000, while
• the median pension (i.e. the situational average) can be set at HUF 205,000,
• and the average pension is HUF 231,000.

22.2 percent of pensioners receive less than HUF 120,000 per month, while the proportion of those with a salary of over HUF 300,000 is 18.9%.

It was called interesting that, for the first time, the KSH divided the range above 500,000 forints into 2 parts, so it turned out that barely 1 percent of the beneficiaries receive an annuity of more than 600,000 forints.

KSH data also revealed that at the beginning of 2024:

• 76 percent of those receiving pensions and other benefits were old-age pensioners who had reached the retirement age, 6.1 percent received the discounted old-age pension for women, the “women 40”.
• There were nearly two million people aged 65 and over. 91.5 percent of them received an old-age pension, 4.4 percent a widow’s pension, disability benefits, and other benefits and annuities were paid domestically as the main benefits.
• In proportion to the population, the least number of services were provided in the county of Pest, and the most in the county of Tolna. The age structure of each area is decisive in the development of the ratio of beneficiaries.
• Pensions and other benefits were paid abroad to 49,000 people at the beginning of 2024, 74 percent of which were old-age pensions.
• Those receiving pensions and other benefits in January 2024, after the pension increase, received an average of HUF 211,819 as total benefits (the combined amount of the main and additional benefits), 11% more than the previous year.
• The average amount of the old-age pension was the highest in Budapest, HUF 275,667. This exceeded the national average by HUF 45,000, and the lowest county value, the Bács-Kiskun county average, by HUF 70,000.

The portal also addressed significant differences between men’s and women’s pensions. As it was written, women are in the majority at the low pension levels, while in the range above 400,000 forints, the proportion of men is almost 60%. (Even though only 38% of all pensioners are men.) It follows from this that the average old-age pension for women in January this year was 217,800 forints, for men 254,100 forints, i.e. there was a gap of 14 percent between the sexes.

According to the KSH report, the real value of pensions increased by 0.2 percent last year.