Portugal is a country stuck between 3rd and 1st world. That average net salary is ~1000€ per month so I assume the average pension is actually lower than that. Maybe this link will help put income and costs into perspective: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ci ... ity=LisbonSolvent wrote:Well yeah, in terms of "keeping the promises made to everyone by politicians" I don't think the problem can be "solved," but that's not unusual because politicians overpromise all the time. My "solution" is probably one favored by many others on these boards. People ought to just consume less. I don't know what retirement living standards are like in Portugal, but I know the sort of retirement incomes people target in Australia and find it pretty baffling that people can spend that much money. Especially when they often have their own home paid off. I suppose when you're older your medical bills get pretty terrible.
Lisbon is the capital and most expensive area of the country.
Obviously you can solve the short term problem of pensions by cutting benefits, but with the current system you will have to keep cutting purely because of demographic aspects. I would prefer for us to establish a system that could work long term (that obviously entails lower benefits vs what is distributed right now). Right now there is some talks on the issue but the 2 biggest parties just want to cover the problem with dirt, as usual in politics.