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January 15, 2020: 36.3% of pensioners receive less than € 1,000 gross each month, 12.2% do not exceed € 500. One pensioner out of four (24.7%) ranks, however, in the income bracket above 2,000 euros. Istat notes this in the report on the living conditions of pensioners, 2017-2018. The gender gap is to the disadvantage of women, most represented in the income brackets up to € 1,500. The concentration of male earners, however, is highest in the highest income class (3,000 euros and more) where there are 266 pensioners per 100 pensioners (Table 4 in the annex). Women are the majority both as pensioners (55.5%) and as pensioners (52.2%), but they receive 44.1% of the total expenditure. The average amount of old-age pensions is lower than that of men by 36.7%, that of invalidity pensions is 33.8%. For survivors' pensions, on the other hand, women receive 1.5 times the amount of men.

The disadvantage of women, Istat continues, is explained by the wage differential due to shorter contributory careers and lower participation in the labor market. Women are holders of 44.3% of old-age pensions, 45.8% of social security disabilities and 26.5% of accidents at work. The female presence is dominant among survivors' pensions (86.3%), also for a higher life expectancy, and among welfare pensions.

Overall, more than two thirds of retirees (67.2%) benefit from a single benefit, a quarter receives two benefits, the remaining 8% three or more. The accumulation of more pensions mainly concerns women: retired women represent 58.6% of the holders of two pensions and rise to 69.4% of the holders of three or more benefits, but on average, women's pension income is the 27.9% less than that of men, a difference that rises to 36.7% for the amount of individual pensions. Having multiple benefits therefore reduces the disadvantage compared to men.

The distribution of beneficiaries according to retirement income shows that 20% of those who receive the lowest pension income have 5.2% of the total pension resources while the richest fifth has eight times more (42.4% ). In general, a presence in the poorest segment of the distribution of pension income is more frequent for women while that of men grows as quintiles increase: one in four pensioners (24.7%) belongs to the fifth with lower pensions and only 13.2% rank in the highest one; for men, on the other hand, these shares amount to 15.3% and 27.4% respectively. Pensioners with lower pension income mainly reside in the South, where welfare pensions are more common to the detriment of those from work and where the fifth of the population belonging to the lower pension income bracket receives up to € 7,000 gross per year; in the North the threshold rises to almost 9 thousand euros. The fifth of pensioners with higher pension incomes receives in the Center and the North-West over 27 thousand euros gross per year, in the Islands over 24 thousand euros.

In 7.4 million families, pensions represent the first source of income
"For almost 7 million and 400 thousand families with pensioners, pension transfers represent more than three quarters of the disposable family income and in 21.9% of the cases, retirement benefits are the only monetary source of income (over 2 million and 600 thousand families ) ". Istat notes this, confirming, based on 2017 data, that "the presence of a pensioner within 'vulnerable' households (single parents or families in other types) almost halves exposure to the risk of poverty ".

Spending on pensions rose in 2018, 293 billion
"In 2018, there are about 16 million pensioners, for a total number of pension treatments equal to just under 23 million. Total pension expenditure (including the assistance component) in the same year reaches 293 billion euros (+2, 2% on annual variation) ". Istat notes this. "the relative weight of pension expenditure on GDP stands at 16.6%, a value slightly higher than in 2017 (16.5%), marking an interruption of the decreasing trend observed in the previous three years".