100-Euro Social Pension Would Cost 120 Million Euros a Year

A social pension of 100 euros a month, paid to 100,000 older people with no income at all, would cost the state about 14 billion dinars (roughly 120 million euros) a year. Biznis.rs published that calculation on October 3, starting from a proposal by the association Women at a Turning Point, which wants Serbia to introduce a social pension for people who have reached retirement age but have no right to a pension.

With elections under way, the association has called on political parties and electoral lists, as well as representative trade unions and civic groups working on social policy, to state publicly where they stand on the proposal. The question is whether they are ready to make it a priority for the new National Assembly of Serbia. Biznis.rs does not report that any party or union has responded so far.

What does the association propose?

The proposal sets the social pension at 100 euros a month, about 11,800 dinars, for older people with no pension and no other income. The association wants the possibility of introducing it to be considered as part of amendments to the Law on Social Protection. The Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs is already working on those amendments.

According to an economic analysis prepared for the association, such a pension would reduce the poverty risk rate among people over 65. The association’s president, Miroslava Perisic, told Biznis.rs what it would mean in everyday life:

“A social pension would give people who reached old age without a pension or other income at least basic security for food, medicine, bills and other daily needs. It is especially important for women, who make up the large majority of older people without a pension.”

The association estimates that between 150,000 and 200,000 older people in Serbia live with no income at all, and that 85% of them are women.

How much would it cost?

The Biznis.rs calculation rests on the assumption that 100,000 people would qualify:

• 100 euros a month per beneficiary, about 11,800 dinars
• 1.18 billion dinars (about 10 million euros) a month for 100,000 beneficiaries
• about 14 billion dinars (roughly 120 million euros) a year

For comparison, in September the state set aside 377 million euros from the budget (about 44.5 billion dinars at the exchange rate used in the same calculation) for a package of living-standard measures that included aid for 1,663,000 pensioners. That sum would be enough to fund a 100-euro social pension for 100,000 people for three years.

The number of beneficiaries is the deciding variable. If the same calculation were applied to everyone in the association’s estimate, 150,000 to 200,000 people, the annual cost would run from 180 to 240 million euros. An earlier estimate by the same association, published on its website, carries different figures: women would make up 77% of beneficiaries, and the annual cost would be between 0.17% and 0.33% of GDP. Those numbers do not match the ones in the Biznis.rs text.

Who is left with nothing today?

Filip Bojic, a professor at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, explained that an insured person in the Serbian system needs at least 15 years of pension insurance service, along with the required age, to qualify for an old-age pension. Anyone without those 15 years gets nothing.

Women are the most exposed. Because of family obligations they were often out of the labor market, or worked in the informal economy where no contributions were paid, so when they reach retirement age they lack enough years of service.

Bojic says there is an assumption in Serbia that the minimum of social security is provided by the minimum pension, but that it does not cover people with no insurance service:

“That right belongs to recipients of old-age, early old-age and disability pensions. But, again, to exercise that right you must meet the conditions for a pension, and this does not apply to people who have no right to a pension.”

Around a hundred countries already have social pensions, and in the region they exist in Croatia and North Macedonia. The World Bank has also promoted the concept in recent decades. Bojic points out that Croatia started at 150 euros, an amount adjusted every year in line with the consumer basket cost index.

Universal or targeted model?

Bojic says there are two principles. The first is universal: everyone who has reached the age required for a pension but has no right to one receives a social pension. The second is the so-called targeted model, in which income from other sources, such as property and capital, would be assessed, and the level of that income would be the threshold for receiving a social pension. He says he prefers the second model, because a person may have no years of service yet still have income from property and not be in a state of social insecurity.

A record of a round table held on December 11, 2025, posted on the association’s website, states that the social pension would be a universal right for people over 65 who receive no pension at all. The event was organized under the Swiss government project “Together for an Active Civil Society ACT,” carried out by Helvetas Serbia and Civic Initiatives. The speakers were Marko Vladisavljevic from the Faculty of Economics, Bojic from the Faculty of Law, and Milica Marinkovic and Nadja Markovic from the organization A11. Nikoleta Kosovac of LICEULICE, who took part in the event, said:

“Serbia today has a large number of older people living with no income at all. A social pension is not a luxury. It is the minimum of dignity that the state can and must provide.”

Bojic considers the budget the main obstacle, since social pensions are usually paid from the common state treasury. Still, as he told Biznis.rs, it is not all about money:

“A large number of countries may not be able to secure these payments in the budget, but there is good will, and in recent years more and more countries have some concept under which social security is provided through the institution of the social pension. In the region, these are Croatia and North Macedonia.”

On the legal framework, his view is that the Law on Social Protection should only mention the institution, with the conditions for exercising the right set out in a separate law. He adds that the social pension must be clearly distinguished from cash social assistance, because they are not the same thing.