Economy expert, Adrian Civici commented on Euronews Albania about the study he conducted in collaboration with Selami Xhepa called, “Economic System and the Role of the State on Society”.

Through this study, he has discovered interesting data about what the elderly think about their retirement plans and whether or not they are enough for them to meet their basic living needs.

The study reveals that 89% of people over 60, state that their pension isn’t enough for their basic living needs.

Another interesting fact is that over 90% of pensions are considerably lower than minimum wage as well as the bare minimum standard of living.

Another finding was that 70% of elderly adults are totally or somewhat against alternative schemes like supplementary or private pension plans.

Referring to these data, Civici stated that retirement pensions in Albania are extremely low and as such they don’t allow the elderly to meet their needs.

He emphasized that the amount received by them is even lower in rural areas or for those, who used to receive a low income.

The expert also raised the alarm about the “added costs as a result of the pandemic, which hurt their budgets even more”.