Social justice refers to combating poverty and ensuring equal opportunities in employment, education, and other areas of life for all persons. It is one of the foundations of social development and is realised in societies that respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and actively work to eradicate poverty and ensure social security for all.<\/p>\n
With the aim of promoting these values, the United Nations proclaimed 20 February the World Day of Social Justice.<\/p>\n
According to the latest data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (for 2024), the at-risk-of-poverty rate, the primary indicator of poverty, stood at 20.3% in Croatia. It is concerning that this is the highest rate since 2012 (20.4%) and that it has increased each year since 2022. At the same time, this rate does not indicate how many people are truly living in poverty, but rather how many have an income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold.<\/p>\n
Older persons aged 65 and above remain the most vulnerable group\u2014more than one in three, or as many as 37% (40.1% for women), are at risk of poverty. This represents an increase compared to the previous year, when the rate was 34.8%. According to the 2021 Census, there are 868,697 persons aged over 65 in Croatia, meaning that more than 320,000 of them are at risk of poverty\u2014almost 20,000 more than the year before.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, if an older person lives alone (a single-person household), nearly two out of three older persons in this situation are at risk of poverty (61.4%).<\/p>\n
As these figures have risen year after year, the Ombudswoman recommended that the competent Ministry conduct a detailed analysis of the situation to design and implement effective measures to prevent poverty among older persons. However, there is still no information on whether such an analysis has been carried out.<\/p>\n
A significant factor contributing to poverty among older persons remains the inadequacy of pensions. According to data from the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute, the average old-age pension awarded under the Pension Insurance Act (paid in January 2026) amounted to EUR 689.79 (excluding pensions paid under international agreements).<\/p>\n
Although amendments to the Pension Insurance Act have allowed for increases in pension amounts\u2014which is certainly welcome\u2014further growth is needed to ensure that pensions are genuinely sufficient to provide older persons with a dignified standard of living, particularly in the context of persistent inflation and rising living costs. In addition, older persons often face extra expenses, for example for medicines, healthcare, long-term care, and access to services, which frequently represent their basic subsistence needs.<\/p>\n
Another issue is that new pensioners often wait months for the payment of their first pension and receive only an advance payment, which is lower than the pension amount to which they are entitled\u2014a matter previously highlighted by the Ombudswoman.<\/p>\n
The amounts of social benefits for persons without income or with insufficient income to meet basic living needs, such as the guaranteed minimum benefit, are also inadequate to lift beneficiaries out of poverty. One of the key amendments to the Social Welfare Act, relating to the calculation of the guaranteed minimum benefit, did not include older persons at all, despite the Ombudswoman\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n
It is therefore necessary to increase the amount of the guaranteed minimum benefit, as older persons without income who live alone receive only EUR 221 per month\u2014an increase of just EUR 13 compared to the previous year and only one third of the at-risk-of-poverty threshold for a single-person household, which amounts to EUR 617 per month.<\/p>\n
For years, the Ombudswoman has highlighted the poverty faced by older persons without sufficient years of service for an old-age pension or without other income, proposing the introduction of a national benefit for older persons, which was implemented in 2021 for those who had not completed at least 15 years of pensionable service by the age of 65. Following the Ombudswoman\u2019s recommendations, the eligibility criteria were further eased, and in August 2025 there were 18,884 beneficiaries, compared to only 7,278 in January 2024. However, the amount of this benefit remains insufficient to cover basic living needs and is even lower than the guaranteed minimum benefit for older persons. The Ombudswoman has therefore proposed that it be adjusted twice a year, in line with pensions.<\/p>\n
Certain older persons, such as oncology patients, are also entitled to the inclusion allowance, designed to reduce inequalities and provide additional financial support. However, it is important that competent authorities proactively inform potential beneficiaries of this right, as many are unaware of their entitlement. The procedure for obtaining the inclusion allowance should also be simplified as much as possible to avoid discouraging potential beneficiaries from submitting applications.<\/p>\n
The vulnerable position of many older persons in Croatia has also been highlighted by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which, in its consideration of Croatia\u2019s second periodic report, recommended taking measures to ensure adequate levels of guaranteed minimum benefits and national benefits for older persons.<\/p>\n
Despite positive developments, such as increases in pensions and cash benefits and the easing of eligibility criteria for the national benefit for older persons, poverty among older persons unfortunately continues to rise. Additional effective measures must therefore be designed and implemented to halt this trend.<\/p>\n
A detailed analysis of the human rights situation and discrimination affecting older persons, along with recommendations for addressing the challenges they face, is currently being prepared as part of a special report on the rights of older persons, which the Ombudswoman will soon submit to the Croatian Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social justice refers to combating poverty and ensuring equal opportunities in employment, education, and other areas of life for all persons. It is one of the foundations of social development and is realised in societies that respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and actively work to eradicate poverty and ensure social security for all. With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23178,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23177\/revisions\/23178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}