Of the 349,334 pensioners in Macedonia, 98,318 receive the minimum pension. That's 28.1 percent - more than one in four - according to August data from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIOM).

"Minimum pension" sounds like a single number, but it isn't. The amount depends on when a person retired and how many years they worked, so the lowest pensions currently range from 20,288 to 23,945 denars (roughly 330 to 390 euros). Whatever is missing to reach the legal minimum is paid by the state. For 2026, according to the Fund, around 80 million euros has been set aside for that.

The calculation is a story in itself. The lowest old-age pension is set as a percentage of the average wage of all employees in 2002: 41 percent for men with more than 35 years of service and women with more than 30, 38 percent for men with more than 25 and women with more than 20, and 35 percent for anyone with less. On top of that base come the regular indexations and flat increases totalling 7,000 denars. So in 2026, the base for the most vulnerable pensioners is still a salary from more than two decades ago.

PIOM director Nikola Memov says the model needs to be split. "The future model should clearly separate the pension principle - how much was paid in and what that earns as an entitlement - from the social function of the state," he argues. The Association of Pension Fund Management Companies is asking for something similar. Its president, Marijan Nikolovski, says the money for these pensioners should be planned in the budget in advance, so it's clear how many of them there are and what they cost.

The technical question is where in the budget the 80-million-euro line will sit. The human one is different: what does it say about an economy that almost a hundred thousand pensioners, after their years of work, receive an amount the state has to top up just to reach the minimum? And has anyone calculated how many of them there will be in the years ahead?