Someone in Latvia receives a pension of over half a million euros a year. Who is it? 0 8

"Young" retirees receive more

According to the State Social Insurance Agency (SSIA), in 2021 the average pension in Latvia was 390.12 euros, while in the previous year, 2025, it was just over 200 euros. The plan for the current year 2026 is 632.27 euros. (The data is taken from the SSIA document "Special Budget of the State Social Insurance 2026" / "Valsts sociālās apdrošināšanas speciālais budžets 2026", updated on April 1, 2026).

At the same time, the number of retirees has remained at the same level: in 2021, 526,100 people in Latvia were retired, and in 2026 - (approximately) 526,300.

Budget expenses for pensions have understandably increased. In 2021, they amounted to 2.4631 billion; in 2026 - (approximately) already 3.9856 billion.

At the same time, the share of people receiving higher pensions has increased. If in 2020 more than half of retirees received a pension from 200 to 500 euros per month, then last year half of retirees had a pension from 500 to 1000 euros. (This is quite understandable - salaries in Latvia have recently risen sharply due to inflation).

Currently, almost a third of seniors receive a pension of less than 500 euros - 31%.

How to live on 20 euros

At the same time, there are people who receive less than 100 euros and even less than 20 euros.

"Such small pensions are received by people if their right to a pension is determined by summing it with the pension from another state. That is, a person may have had about five years of work experience, and the pension is calculated based on that experience. There have been cases where a person has not two, but as many as five countries assigning these pensions, so the pensions look very small, but it should be taken into account that they have support from other states," explained Egita Ose, a representative of the State Social Insurance Agency (VSAA).

How many recipients of large pensions are there in Latvia? About 13% of retirees.

Slightly more than a thousand euros are received monthly by over 40,000 seniors. And those whose pension exceeds five thousand are 143 people.

The largest pension last year was 44,000 euros per month or 528,000 euros per year. It was received by one person.

Where the wealthiest seniors live

Among cities, the highest average pension across all age groups is in Ventspils - over 800 euros. Riga is third largest, at 748 euros. The lowest is in Daugavpils - 641 euros.

If we look beyond the cities, the wealthiest retirees live in the regions of the Riga region. Specifically, the highest average pension across all age groups is received in the Marupe region - 840 euros per month.

The difference between the highest and lowest average pension is 285 euros. The lowest pension in Latvia is received by residents of the Rezekne region.