The number of people drawing pensions in Italy at the end of 2005 totalled 16,560,897 and while the number was similar to the previous year, the annual value of pensions rose 3.3% to 214.881 billion euros, national statistics bureau Istat reported on Thursday.
According to Istat, the average annual pension was 12,975 euros with 68.4% of retirees drawing a single pension, 24.2% drawing two pensions and 7.4% three.
Istat added that 68.7% of pensioners were over 65 years of age, while 32.3% were under 65, 27.7% were between 40 and 64 years of age and 19.2% were over 79.
Women accounted for 53% of Italy's retiree population but received only 44.1% of the pensions budget.
The reason for this, Istat explained, was that women often inherited only a percentage of their late husband's pension and many did not have sufficient years of social security payments to have a higher pensions of their own.
The average annual pension for men in 2005 was 15,451 euros while women received 10,783 euros.
It was calculated that 54.8% of Italy's retirees drew pensions of less than 1,000 euros per month and 23.8% received less than 500 euros, while 23.4% drew pensions of between 1,000 and 1,500 euros, 11.9% has monthly checks of between 1,500 and 2,000 euros and 9.9% retirees had a pension of over 2,000 euros a month.
From a geographical aspect, 47% of Italy's pensioners live in the north, 30.2% in the south and 19.5% in central Italy.
Istat added, however, that in the north there were 67 pensioners per 100 working residents, compared to 78 in the south, while the national average from 2000 to 2005 fell from 74 per 100 employed residents to 71.
