Estonia, Financial Services, Pensioners

A total of 481 mln euros was paid out in pensions to over 343,600 pensioners, while family allowances totaled over 141.6 mln euros and recipients numbered more than 162,300. Disability related social benefits totaled 15.1 mln euros, paid out to some 158,000 people, the Social Insurance Board said on Tuesday.

In terms of total payouts, Harju county topped the list with over 263 mln euros, followed by East-Viru county with more than 72.3 mln euros and Tartu country with close to 69.9 mln euros. The smallest sum total of payouts was registered in the island county of Hiiumaa, where payouts totaled slightly under 4.6 mln euros.

Pensions increased substantially in the second quarter due to the annual indexation carried out in April. As a result, the sum total paid out in pensions per month was bigger by 12 mln euros on average in the second quarter than in the first quarter of the year.

Recipients of pensions numbered 343,622 in the second quarter, 2,701 less than in the first quarter of the year.

The reduction in the number of pension recipients mainly results from a smaller number of recipients of the work incapacity pension, said Kati Kumnik, head of the department of allowances at the Social Insurance Board.

"This category of pension is no longer assigned and people with a reduced work capacity get an allowance via the Unemployment Insurance Fund," she said. 

During the first six months of the year, the Social Insurance Board disbursed altogether some 1.25 billion euros. That included over  926.6 mln euros paid out in pensions to 345,116 individuals, over 282.2 mln euros paid out in family allowances to nearly 162,000 individuals, over 32.5 mln euros paid out in social benefits to 158,330 persons with a disability and slightly over 5.4 mln euros paid out under other minor items.