Retirees with low pensions in the poverty trap
Pro Senectute study on poverty in old age in Switzerland
Many retirees have to get by on less than 2,300 francs a month
Pro Senectute surveyed the financial situation of senior citizens in Switzerland. The result: Almost 300,000 people of retirement age are at risk of poverty.
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Many pensioners have written all their lives, and yet the savings they have saved in retirement are hardly enough to live on.
Written for a lifetime, and yet the savings in retirement are hardly enough to survive. Especially now that everyone in Switzerland has to dig deeper into their pockets to be able to pay for groceries, insurance and energy costs.
The rising cost of living hits retirees with low pensions particularly hard. This is how Maya H.* (76) from the canton of Schwyz feels about the recently reported Blick. They won’t read their full names in the newspaper – the stigma of poverty is too great. “I live on 2470 francs a month,” said the pensioner. “Once all the bills have been paid, I’ll have 800 francs left for food and other expenses.”
295,000 at retirement age at risk of poverty
The organization Pro Senectute surveyed the financial situation of senior citizens. The “SonntagsZeitung” and “Le Matin Dimanche” reported on it. According to this, 295,000 people of retirement age are at risk of poverty in Switzerland. They have to make do with an income of around CHF 2,500 per month.
Every seventh person over the age of 65 falls below the limit of CHF 2,279 per month. This amount is considered the poverty line in Switzerland. Many retirees could afford a good life. However, every fifth older person is acutely at risk of poverty or already poor.
Old-age poverty expected to increase
Pro Senectute expects that poverty in old age will continue to increase. This scares pensioner Claire Sottas-Blattmann (70), who lives in the Geneva region. That she said in a Blick report recently, expected to be due to rising prices for energy, health insurance and rents. “Restaurant visits have been canceled, as have new shoes,” says Sottas-Blattmann.
The proportion of retirees who lack money despite decades of toil varies greatly from canton to canton. According to the “SonntagsZeitung”, the proportion of people over the age of 65 with an income of less than 2,279 francs is greatest in Ticino. The cantons of St. Gallen, Nidwalden, Thurgau, Obwalden and Geneva follow.
The proportion is smallest in Basel-Stadt, Zug, Valais and Zurich. The cantonal differences can be explained by the level of wages in structurally weaker regions. (euros)
*Name known to editors