They earn well today, but they will be left with nothing when they get old. These people will have a low pension

They have high incomes, are self-employed and often avoid full-time employment. But what seems convenient today may be painful in a dozen or so years. More and more self-employed people in Poland may count on starvation pensions in the future. All because of low contributions paid to ZUS.

According to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), there are over 2.5 million self-employed people in Poland, of which approximately 1.7 million run individual businesses without employing any staff.

This group benefits from a preferential method of calculating contributions - many pay only the minimum contributions to ZUS. How much is that? According to ZUS, the retirement contribution is 19.52%. Therefore, with a base of assessment of PLN 5,203.80, this will amount to PLN 1,015.78. However, in the case of people on preferential ZUS, the amount of the retirement contribution calculated from a base of assessment of PLN 1,399.80 is only PLN 273.24.

Self-employed people often enjoy high earnings and independence, but many of them do not realize that they are saving far too little for their future retirement. If someone earns PLN 12,000 and pays contributions only from the minimum base, their retirement capital grows slowly . As a result, the retirement may amount to only a few hundred zlotys.

SEE: Early retirement for a new group of seniors. There is a petition

According to data from the Social Insurance Institution, the average pension in Poland in March 2025 after indexation was PLN 4,045.20 (PLN 4,978.67 for men and PLN 3,421.61 for women). Meanwhile, a self-employed person who has paid only minimum contributions for years may receive less than half of this amount.

People running a business activity can increase the contribution base at any time, and thus build their future retirement capital. Only a small percentage of the self-employed take advantage of this possibility.

Experts on the labor market appeal for prudence and inform about alternatives : saving within IKE, IKZE or participating in Employee Capital Plans (PPK).

Current legal solutions reward short-term savings but generate long-term risk. The Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers and the Pension Institute have repeatedly called for reform of contributions for the self-employed so that they are linked to actual income, not flat-rate.

SEE: Account revaluation. ZUS will pay more money to pensioners

In the current system, an entrepreneur can pay ZUS contributions calculated on the same basis as employees with lower income.

The forecasts are not optimistic. If there are no changes in the system or in the approach of people running a business, many self-employed may receive pensions not exceeding PLN 1,000 per month , or even less.