Malta's pension entitlement amounted to 256.6 per cent of GDP in 2015, placing it in 15th place of 22 European countries that have published data.

This places it at the lower end of the spectrum between the UK's 403.5 per cent of GDP and Denmark's 95 per cent, respectively the highest and lowest ratios of entitlements-to-GDP. 

Source: NSO

By the end of 2015, total pension entitlements for Malta reached €24.4bn with €22.4bn or 91.7 per cent of them going to those enrolled in the social security pension system, the National Statistics Office said on Thursday.

Between 2012 and 2015, social security pension entitlements rose by €4.6bn mainly reflecting the growing trend in employment.

On the other hand, treasury entitlements dropped by €0.5bn to represent 8.3 per cent of total pension entitlements by the end of 2015. The decline is a result of the treasury pension being replaced by the two-thirds pension in 1979 and hence closed to new government employees. 

In recent years an increasing number of employees eligible to receive a treasury pension are reaching retirement age and are, therefore, achieving their maximum entitlements. In the future, such entitlements will decrease as pensions are paid to the retirees, the NSO explained. 

In 2015 social contributions under the social security pension system reached €1.6bn, increasing by more than €0.3bn since 2012. Total pension payments amounted to €0.7bn by the end of 2015, of which 75.5 per cent was used for old age pensions.