In Russia, it was decided to raise the retirement age. Our deputies believe that men should work up to 65 years, women - up to 60. The fact that only a small part survives to this age does not bother anyone. There is no money, pension reform has failed, citizens have ceased to believe in funds, salaries are being taken away into the “shadow”. People do not think about the future, at least that’s how our authorities reason, making disappointing readings about the amount of money brought to the pension fund.
By increasing the working hours for our citizens, the government focuses on Europe. We set the retirement age in Germany as an example. However, much is not negotiated. For example, the standard of living, its duration in our country and in the “decaying West” is not taken into account. Also, we are not told about the size of the pension for state pension provision from them and from us. We decided to check how things are with older people at “our European partners”. What is the pension in Germany? We will consider all this further.
Happy old age
Whatever the pros and cons of Western civilization we may call, it is obvious that caring for the elderly and children is put at the forefront there. Pension provision in Germany is one of the best in the world. According to the UN, German pensioners are second only to Swedish and Norwegian in terms of living standards.
In Germany, you cannot hear the phrase "my grandfather fought", "thanks to my grandfather for the victory." You will not see in it and pensioners selling vegetables near outlets. But you can often see elderly people from Germany at various ski resorts, on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea. What are the reasons? Is it all about state pension benefits? We will discuss these issues in more detail below.
Sources of wealth
Germany has two sources of income for older people: state retirement benefits and private foundations. The authorities guarantee payments from the budget to citizens whose income is not more than 3900 euros. This is about 300 thousand for Russian rubles. We agree that a salary of 100 thousand rubles is already substantial with us. And “normal” for some Russian regions is 20-25 thousand rubles. This is a matter of greatness of the state. The Germans, whose income is above 3900 euros, enter into a voluntary agreement with private foundations. They deduct a certain amount on a voluntary basis.
Retirement Age in Germany
Now about sore. When does their work experience officially end? So, the retirement age of men in Germany starts at 65, women - from 60 years. Soon in our country will be the same. However, the standard of living in Germany is such that authorities and sociologists suggest increasing the retirement age . It is possible that the retirement age of women in Germany will soon be 65 years, men - 67. However, such a measure will be ineffective, as political scientists say. The problem of the Germans is an aging population. The situation is more complicated only in Sweden. They even offer to push the age to 75 years.
You can retire earlier. For this, it is necessary to make contributions to the funds for at least 35 years. In Germany, harsh laws for parasites. If a person has not worked anywhere or has been officially working for less than 5 years, then the state will not pay him a pension. Emigrants feel this problem. Many of our compatriots who moved to Germany at a mature and retirement age remain below the social security line. The search for a better life only worsened their situation. The source of their existence is various social funds that are aimed at supporting the poor.
The procedure is rather unpleasant, but necessary. We agree that getting a well-deserved pension and going to ask for handouts in various organizations are two different things.
How much do German pensioners pay
We examined the retirement age in Germany, now we will consider the question of how much older people receive as a retirement pension. There is no single number. Each one is individual. Depends on many factors:
- the number of years worked;
- amount of contributions to funds;
- study, which goes into the seniority;
- Military service;
- number of children, etc.
Based on the above, points are awarded, which affect the amount. Something similar can be observed today in our state. We are only introducing this system. However, how much on average do pensioners in Germany receive? We will answer this question.
An “ideal” pension is about 1250 euros. This is about 85 thousand rubles for our money at the exchange rate of 2016. This is the standard of working for 45 years for the average salary of a citizen. However, few people can boast of such experience.
Partition of Germany influenced retirement
Germany’s long division into the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic led to some inequality. In the West, a man on average receives 1,052 euros, in the East - a little less, about 1,000 euros. Women, on the contrary, receive more in the east, 700 euros against 521 in the west. This is due to the fact that in the GDR women work on a par with men and have a long history.
The numbers are not amazing. Before the growth of the euro, translated into our money, pensioners in Germany received "only" about 40 thousand rubles. Of course, with our 10-12 thousand rubles. do not compare. However, we have developed myths that in the West there are huge pensions that allow you to buy houses and yachts.
However, the figures we named are government guarantees. Most citizens already pay mortgages, live in their homes, they are paid additional corporate payments, interest from private pension funds, etc.
The state supports widows and widowers. Their pension is doubled. In addition, there are a number of advantages that our citizens will envy.
Pensioners in Germany - beggars in Europe?
Indeed, pensioners in Germany receive less than in many countries of Western Europe. Even crisis countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain pay more. More recently, German politicians actively criticized A. Merkel, who decided to financially support the Greeks and save them from default. As a rebuke, it was argued that Greek citizens were not accustomed to working, and their pensioners without seniority received more benefits than the German, who worked all their lives.
More than half of the elderly in Germany receive about 700 euros. The figure, say, is not impressive. Especially when you compare Denmark with an average pension of $ 2,800. However, Germany is considered a social state. They never leave a citizen in a difficult life situation.
The state pays the elderly an apartment, medical care, which is one of the best in the world, allocates food allowances. All this allows for a decent old age.
Market relations of children and parents
State pension provision, support to other segments of the population, assistance to the poor led to special relations between parents and children. Upon reaching adulthood, children leave home. Parents help them only with their blessing. Adulthood begins. Our usual situation, when retired parents help children of working age, is considered absurd. Studying, living - the state helps in everything, especially in difficult life situations. Between parents and children market relations. They also get together on holidays, visit each other, but real Germans have decided to pay each other all expenses incurred.
Children pay with the same coin. Elderly parents are not accepted to take to themselves. Finding a nursing home for a parent is the main help of the children. There are no shortcomings in such institutions. The country has a whole branch of social protection. A whole industry of training specialists, more than 11 thousand nursing homes with the most comfortable conditions - all this allows not only pensioners to survive, but to live in comfortable conditions.
"Young old age"
Time from 65 to 75 in Germany spend for their own pleasure. People at this age do whatever they want. From our citizens you can often hear "it's too late", "I'm already old", "it was necessary before." In Germany, the opposite is true. Although Germany has a high retirement age, life expectancy is much higher. This is due to quality medicine, balanced nutrition, a healthy lifestyle, disease prevention, outdoor activities. At 65, a German resident is not a helpless old man, but an active person. He has a lot of strength and desires for new activities: sports, outdoor activities, dancing, learning foreign languages.
They love to travel. German retirees can often be observed in Turkey, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, and Russia. You can immediately recognize them by a number of qualities: silence, equanimity, frugality.
Summary
In our country, we are accustomed to equal the West in solving many problems. Raising the retirement age “like theirs”, introducing a point system, etc. - all this is introduced with the help of “advanced European experience”. However, we forget that the average life expectancy in Germany is 10-15 years higher than ours, German medicine is one of the foremost. In our country, only the wealthiest citizens are able to be treated in German clinics with the latest equipment, which is absolutely free for German pensioners. Various social insurance funds pay for them. There are many problems, they are there too. We just want to say that it’s not worth copying some Western measures, because they do not always fit our reality.