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Albina’s old-age pension for 79 years is 250 euros. Sodra adds another 20 euros to the widow’s pension. A woman does not hide: it would be very difficult to survive on that money. So sometimes she sells her knitwear and doesn’t give up on her daughters’ help.
“Widows 20 euros, I think 270 euros for everything, I don’t get anything else. Very difficult, I wouldn’t help the girl, I don’t know. I pay for everything, I need food and everything,” says senior Albina.
PHOTO GALLERY. Albina de Marijampolė receives a pension of € 270 together with the widow’s benefit.
Fortunately, the woman says she has a garden, she raises chickens, so at least you don’t have to buy vegetables and eggs. Still, receiving a pension of three hundred euros a month, Albina is classified as poor. And around half a million people in Lithuania find themselves in an even more difficult situation due to lack of money. This is a fifth of the country’s population, almost like all of Vilnius.
Still, the ruling announces that the army of the poor in Lithuania, albeit very slowly, is shrinking. Here, the Statistics Department has calculated in a year and a half that in 2018, the second year that these rulers were in power, there was a 3 percent decrease in the number of people living in absolute poverty who officially receive € 250 or less per month.
There has been a slight reduction in the poor and relative poverty. Having lived between 250 and 380 euros a month, he lived 2 percent less.
“This is an important trend, poverty rates are declining in all groups and society is living better. Children’s money, the indexation of pensions, the increase in MMA contribute to a more egalitarian society,” says the deputy minister. Eitvydas Bingelis.
At the time, people say such a small reduction in poverty is not to be commended. It is said that much more is needed in order not to die:
“Pay an apartment, to the theater once a month, at least 400 euros. Medicines are expensive, 500 euros would be good. “
“People are poor, they live off the sand. Water, they buy milk. The pensioner would receive 550 euros, maybe maybe. It is difficult in the city, the apartment rates are high.”
“Food is expensive, housing. To live with dignity, a pensioner of 800 is absolutely necessary.”
“In the future, we all become unemployed, beggars and live on the benefits. Hell to work?
“To live a normal person for those wages, the poor only live compared to Europe. How much money for food, what prices.”
Even the average pension and the minimum wage, according to statistics, are insufficient, forcing those who make them poor or to find where to earn money.
“People over 65 and alone, when left alone, have greater poverty. Although social benefits are granted, it affects poverty, an important part of which is around 40%”, says Jūratė Petrauskienė, Director of Statistics at Lithuania.
Governors hope that recent increases in pensions and social benefits will reduce Lithuania’s poverty rates. However, experts say government support for the poor is far from sufficient.
“The minimum wage does not protect against poverty, it does not reach the risk of poverty. Those who cannot work, disability, family members with disabilities are many other problems,” said Aistė Adomavičienė, Head of the Poverty Reduction Network.
President Nausėda is also calling for tax reforms and greater benefits, especially old-age pensions, to reduce the gap between the richest and poorest people in Lithuania.
“Continuous increase in pensions by 8%, reduction of NPD for the least employed. We cannot talk about the welfare state without solving it,” says Vaidas Augustinavičius, the president’s adviser.
Most of the poor remain among the elderly. Up to a third of people of retirement age live in poverty. Childhood in Lithuania is also not easy for almost a quarter of children. In the working age group, approximately one sixth suffers poverty. Therefore, depending on the participation of the poor, Lithuania remains the tail of the countries of the European Union.
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