The Average Old-Age Pension Covers About Five and a Half Months a Year in a Private Care Home, a Survey Finds: How Social-Sector Fees Work Instead
Social Security's average old-age pension, 691.31 euros in August, pays for about five and a half months a year in a double room at a private care home, a survey reported by Público finds. How non-profit homes set fees from income, and what to check before you sign.
An older person living on the average Social Security old-age pension in Portugal can pay for less than half a year in a shared room at a private care home, according to figures published on Wednesday by Via Sénior, a private company in the senior residence sector, and reported by Público. The survey itself has not been put online.
The calculation sets the average old-age pension paid by the Segurança Social (Social Security) in August, 691.31 euros, against the average price of a double room in a private lar (care home), which Via Sénior's fourth survey of senior residences, prepared with the BA&N Research Unit, puts at 1,717 euros a month. Público reports that 70 percent of the homes taking part said they were full and 69 percent had a waiting list.
What the official figures show
The pension figure checks out. Social Security's monthly pension statistics give an average of 691.31 euros a month in August 2026 across 2,025,396 old-age pensioners. On our arithmetic, 14 payments a year come to 9,678 euros, against 20,604 euros for twelve months in a double room: about five and a half months, leaving roughly 10,900 euros for savings or family to cover.
Places are scarce in the non-profit network too. The Carta Social 2024 report (the ministry's survey of social care services) puts places in ERPI, the Estrutura Residencial para Pessoas Idosas (residential home for older people), at the equivalent of 8.6 percent of mainland residents aged 65 or over, with 92.9 percent of places occupied.
How fees work in a social-sector home
In a home run by an IPSS (Instituição Particular de Solidariedade Social, a non-profit social institution) under a cooperation agreement with Social Security, the resident does not pay a market price. The fee rules annexed to Portaria n.º 196-A/2015, as republished by Portaria n.º 218-D/2019, set it at 75 to 90 percent of the resident's own monthly income, depending on how dependent they are. For ERPI, only the resident's income counts, worked out over the year, so the 13th and 14th payments are spread across twelve months.
On our arithmetic, a resident on the average pension would pay between about 605 and 726 euros a month, before any allowable expenses are deducted. The same rules let a home ask children or other relatives for an extra contribution, agreed in writing and receipted separately, based on their means.
What this means for you
- Ask for a social-sector place early. According to gov.pt, you apply at your local Social Security or municipal service desk, at Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon, or directly with the institution. Each home's internal rules set its admission criteria and waiting list.
- Check that a home is legal before paying. The Carta Social search lists existing social care services by area. Under Portaria n.º 67/2012, as amended in 2023, a home must display its operating authorisation, its price list or fee table, and sign a written contract listing what the monthly fee includes. Police found an unlicensed home in Belas, Sintra, earlier this month.
- Look at income top-ups. The Complemento Solidário para Idosos (solidarity supplement for older people) tops up pensioners with income under 8,040 euros a year, but requires six consecutive years living in Portugal, which can rule out parents who moved here recently to join family. Its reference value rises in 2027.
