The recently announced pension system reform will continue the system's privatisation to the detriment of pensioners, the Croatian Pensioners' Union (SUH) said on Tuesday.

SUH called on the government to revoke the mandatory second pillar of pension contributions to halt the impoverishing of senior citizens.

They said they feared that the Labour Minister Marko Pavic might allow the weakening of the first pension pillar, which is based on inter-generational solidarity, along with the strengthening of the second pillar, which would then amount to yet another step towards the privatisation of the pension system.

SUH added that about 315,000 pensioners, or 27.6 percent of the them all, live on pensions lower than 1,500 kuna (€202) per month. In addition, as many as 600,000 pensioners get monthly pensions below the poverty line, which is 2,180 kuna (€294) per month.

There are over 1.2 million pensioners in Croatia, out of a total population of about 4.2 million. One in three Croatians above the age of 65 is at risk of poverty, which is 1.8 times more than the EU average.

The average pension in the country is 3,317 (€448), and the average-pension-to-average-salary ratio is only 37.5 percent. In comparison, the ratio in Hungary and Macedonia is 62 percent, while in Slovenia it is 60.2 percent, in Montenegro 56.2 percent, and in Serbia 49.8 percent.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.