PENSION CRISIS |  UPDATED DATA FEBRUARY 2026 

Retirement that is not enough: in February 2026 the minimum pension is below the individual poverty line

✍️  Social 📅 Journalism Newsroom March 18, 2026 🏷️ #JubilaciónMínima2026 #ANSES #CrisisPrevisional #AdultosMayores #Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, MARCH 18, 2026 — Every February, the same humiliating calculation is repeated. Older adults who receive the minimum pension receive $429,254 pesos from ANSES. The National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) certifies that, in order not to be considered poor, an individual needs at least $452,321 per month. The difference: $23,000 that separates the pension guaranteed by the State from the poverty threshold measured by the State itself. A deficit that millions of retirees are trying to cover with their bodies, returning to the labour market.

💰 How much do retirees receive in February 2026: the official ANSES amounts

Through resolution 21/2026 published in the Official Gazette, the National Social Security Administration (ANSES) made official the 2.85% increase in all pension benefits for February, in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2025 published by INDEC. The update follows the mechanism established by the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 274/2024, which replaced the quarterly adjustment system with a monthly mobility scheme tied exclusively to past inflation.

(*) The extraordinary bonus of $70,000 is granted to those who receive salaries up to $369,600. For assets between that value and $439,690, it is paid proportionally. It has not been updated since March 2024. Source: ANSES Resolution 21/2026 and Decree 109/2026.

👷 ≈34.7% of those over 60 are still working: the human face of statistics

The data comes from the statistical dossier published by INDEC based on the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) of the first quarter of 2025 and a private survey on the first quarter of 2026: 34.7% of people of retirement age – between 60 and 74 years old – are still active in the labor market. The vast majority do so out of economic necessity. according to the Colsacor Foundation report that raised the alarm in 2024, 83% of older adults who work do so driven by the insufficiency of the pension fund, not by vocation or desire to stay active.

Of the approximately 4.5 million retirees who received the minimum pension (including bonuses) in September 2025, a significant proportion do not have family support or accumulated savings. For them, the equation is straightforward: the pension is not enough to feed themselves, access medicines and pay for services. The solution – forced, informal and without legal protection – is to go back to work.

📉 25 years of deterioration: the picture that no government wants to show

The deterioration of the purchasing power of pensions is not a novelty of the current administration. It is a structural trend that crosses five governments, three different mobility formulas and a single result: older adults are losing more and more purchasing power in the face of inflation. The following table summarizes the real evolution of the Minimum Retirement by presidential term, at constant values (August 2024 pesos, according to data from the Eforo Foundation and the CEPA Center):

(*) Values in constant pesos for August 2024. Sources: Eforo Foundation, CEPA Center, Chequeado.com, INDEC. The real variation considers INDEC CPI inflation by period. The $70,000 bonus was frozen since March 2024 without an update.

⚖️ DNU 274/2024 and the paradox of the adjustment for inflation

Since April 2024, the current retirement mobility formula – established by President Milei's DNU 274/2024 – adjusts pensions monthly according to the inflation of the month prior to the previous one (i.e., with a two-month lag). This implies that pensions, at most, will be able to maintain their purchasing power constant, but never recover the lost ground. The CEPA Center's analysis concludes that, under this formula, retirees will not be able to improve their purchasing power in the long term.

Added to this is the freezing of the extraordinary bonus: set at $70,000 since March 2024, this supplement did not receive any update during the following 24 months. The effect is that those who earn the minimum wage – the most vulnerable segment – are the ones who lose the most relative purchasing power, since the bonus represents an increasingly smaller fraction of the total income as inflation advances.

🌎 In context: Argentina doubles the regional rate of older adults working out of necessity

ECLAC places the proportion of older adults who work out of economic necessity at around 8-10% in countries with more stable pension systems in the region, such as Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. Argentina, with its 17.1% (First quarter 2024 and current estimate 34.7% doubles or triples that average. The difference does not lie in the age of the population or in its demographic structure, but in the historical inability of the system to preserve the real value of the contributions in the face of recurrent inflationary cycles.

💡 What is being debated: the possible reforms and their limitations

Congress tried in 2024 to sanction a new mobility formula that would contemplate a real improvement in salaries. The project, approved with the support of the opposition, was totally vetoed by the national Executive Branch. The Supreme Court of Justice has a series of cases pending resolution in which retirees claim the recomposition of historically liquefied assets. Among specialists, there is consensus on the necessary reforms, although not on their financing:

•       Update of the extraordinary bonus: the $70,000 bonus frozen since March 2024 should be updated at least by CPI so as not to lose its compensatory effect on the lowest assets.

•       Formula with a salary component: a mobility that combines CPI with the evolution of wages (RIPTE) would allow retirees to participate in economic growth, not just survive inflation.

•       Basket of the elderly as a floor: define the Minimum Retirement based on the real cost of living of the elderly (including medicines, health and differential food) instead of based on the general CBT.

•       Labor formalization: reducing labor informality, which exceeds 40% of the active force, is a necessary condition for the system to have a sufficient contributory base in the long term.

🏷️ SEO TAGS: Minimum Retirement February 2026 |  ANSES updated assets |  retirees working Argentina 2026 |  INDEC 2026 Basic Basket |  Purchasing Power Retirees |  DNU 274/2024 |  Retirement Bonus 2026 |  Older Adults Poverty |  pension reform Argentina |  Pension crisis

📌 SOURCES: ANSES Resolution 21/2026 |  INDEC Basic Basket Valuation Feb. 2026 |  INDEC Permanent Household Survey Q1 2025 |  Colsacor Foundation Report 2024 |  Chequeado.com Pension Series |  CEPA Center Social Security Mobility 2025 |  Eforo Foundation evolution of assets 2024 |  IMSS Argentina.gob.ar March 2026 |  Infobae.com / Cronista.com / Ambito.com updated data 2026.

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