"The poverty risk rate in Croatia in 2012 was 20.5% and in the pensioner population it was higher - 21.8%," Ombudswoman Lora Vidovic said, underlining that the elderly's social benefits were insufficient to meet their minimum needs.
She warned about elderly people being abused for financial gain, which included their commitment to institutional care without their will, physical and verbal abuse, and their being denied basic care and information.
Vidovic said that elderly people who were homeless for five or more years should be entrusted to foster families or homes for elderly people.
Marija Lovrekovic of the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth said that 15,448 elderly people were accommodated in urban senior citizens' homes and that almost 2,000 elderly people were cared for by foster families.
She said that 17.7% of the total population were elderly people who had a right to benefits from the welfare system, ranging from the subsistence allowance to allowances for assistance and care.
"Between 200,000 and 250,000 people receive pensions amounting to 1,000-1,500 kuna, which is really too little," Assistant Labour and Pension System Minister Lidija Hrstic Novak said, underlining the importance of an increase in payments into the pension fund so that elderly people could have a better life.
The present system, with 1.2 million pensioners and 1.04 million workers, cannot provide decent living conditions for pensioners, with the average pension allowance for 40 years of service amounting to 3,365 kuna, she said.
Silvano Hrelja of the parliamentary committee on labour, pension system and social partnership said that the average pension in 2013 was 40.75% of the average pay, which he said was unfortunately not owing to an increase in pensions but a drop in GDP and average pay.
The round table was also held on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons and World Homeless Day, which are also observed in October.
Former homeless person Mile Mrvalj recalled that the Constitutional Court recently restored a law on privileged pensions for former members of Parliament, government officials and judges with the explanation that the institute was a "democratic achievement", while at the same time 50,000 people in the country worked without receiving pay.
If people are homeless, as soon as they find accommodation in shelters or earn 100-200 kuna by doing odd jobs, their social benefits are taken away from them, Mrvalj said.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.65)