Italy: Updated data show significant pension gender gap

Survey results from 2013 indicate a substantial gender gap in terms of pension income in Italy, with women receiving much less favourable incomes.

The annual survey on pensions carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) and the National Institute of Social Security (INPS) showed a significant gender gap in pensions in 2013. The outcome of the analysis could contribute to the implementation of the reform of the pension system, which will take place in 2016.

In more detail, the research findings highlight that in 2013 the Italian pension system cost €273 million. According to research, women represented more than half of all pensioners (53% – 8.7 million out of a total of 16.4 million) but received just 44.2% of the overall pension expenditure. The average annual pension received by men is €14,911, which is 62.2% greater than that received by women (€9,195). Nevertheless, since women received a higher number of pensions per capita (1.51 as against 1.32), the gender gap decreases to 41.4% if it is assessed on pensioners’ average income (€19,686 for men and €13,921 for women). More than half of all female pensioners (50.5%) received less than €1,000 per month, against one third of men (31%). Furthermore, five times as many men had a monthly pension of over €5,000 (178,000 as against 35,000).

The pension income gap between women and men seems to be significantly influenced by the level of social security contributions. In particular, the greater difficulty women experience in achieving regular social security contributions during their career could influence the gender gap in annual pension income.