Many poor pensioners despite protection – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

Many poor pensioners despite protection – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

But despite that there are thousands of retirees poor, emphasizes PRO.

Just over one in ten retiree has a low economic standard. It’s the same proportion as in the entire population, according to the Pension Authority.

– Sure you can make that comparison, but it does not solve the problems of the poor pensioners, says PRO’s Curt Persson.

Approximately four in ten people over age 65 have a guaranteed pension, just over one in ten get housing allowance of one hundred have older livelihood support. There are three parts of the so-called basic security in the pension system.

Pension Authority has made an analysis of the basic security to see if it works as intended, and Analysis Manager Ole Settergren think the answer is yes to that question.

– It is designed to prevent poverty among the elderly and that makes it a great extent, he said.

What surprised Ole Settergren and his colleagues is what he calls the basic paradox. That is to say that it looks like a person entitled to support because it has a very low income, but deeper information indicates that it is not so.

– We have previously thought that many older who has the right to housing, but who for some reason are not looking. But when we have investigated it, it has been shown that even if these pensioners have very low incomes so they can have a fortune of over 100 000, which means that they are not entitled to support, says Ole Settergren.

According to the Pension Authority has 12 percent of those over 65 years of low economic standards. It is an EU definition of relative poverty, which means having an income below 60 percent of median income. For Sweden it is 11 100 per month after tax in 2014.

The percentage is about the same as among those under 65.

– It is certainly the case that older people are more vulnerable than the population at large. Quite the contrary. Basic coverage for the elderly is a bit better than for people of younger ages, says Ole Settergren.

But even if it looks like, it does not change the fact that thousands of pensioners are poor, and live that year in and year out says Curt Persson, chairman of the PRO.

– Above all older women have an income that is not really possible to live a good life, he says.

Each week hit a bunch of seniors and play petanque in the PRO’s auspices in Liljeholmen in Stockholm. Most people think they have a good life. But Majt Hagman indicate that it is difficult to talk about seniors as a group. There are large gaps and differences in living conditions.

– Those who have the most needy prioritize probably not such as to come here. They must prioritize rent and food, she says.