360,000 Romanians have 20,000 euros each in their Pension Pillar II accounts. How much money is left in the accounts, where the amounts are invested

8.5 million Romanians are enrolled in mandatory private pension funds (Pillar II), of which only over 4.6 million contribute regularly, month by month, with 4.75% of their gross income, as part of the CAS social insurance contribution of 25%.

• What amount of accounts has doubled in the last 3 years.
• The article details where the money is invested.
• What happened Pillar II after the war in the Middle East and amid the internal political crisis.

A Romanian with an average salary who contributed monthly to Pillar II of pensions in the 18 years since this system has been operating had over 60,000 lei (12,000 euros) in his personal account last month, according to estimates made on Wednesday by the Association for Privately Administered Pensions (APAPR).

Money from Pillar 2 is the second most valuable financial asset of the population, after bank deposits, as well as the only source of long-term savings for Romanians, especially those with low incomes.

How much money do Romanians have in Pillar II accounts?

The amounts accumulated in Pillar 2 reached approx. 11% of the country's Gross Domestic Product, claims APAPR, the association representing pension fund administrators.

“As an example, a Romanian who earns the average salary and has contributed to Pillar 2 every month since the beginning and until now has a total amount of over RON 60,000 in his personal account, an amount that has doubled in the last 3 years. APAPR estimates show that over 1 million Romanians have amounts greater than 60,000 RON in their Pillar 2 personal accounts. Of these, approx. 360,000 have sums of over 100,000 lei in their personal account”, mentions APAPR.

335,000 Romanians collected over 1.4 billion euros

The 7 Pillar 2 private pension funds managed total amounts (net assets) worth 228 billion lei (43.5 billion euros) on behalf of 8.5 million participants as of May 22, 2026.

During the 18 years of effective operation of the system (May 20, 2008 – May 22, 2026), the pension funds collected total gross contributions of 141.8 billion lei and made payments of approx. 7.2 billion lei to approximately 335,000 beneficiaries, including heirs.

This year, the current payment legislation is still in force, which provides for two options: either the collection of the entire accumulated amount as a single payment, or its installments as equal monthly payments, for a maximum of 5 years.

The new law by which Romanians will only be able to withdraw 30% of the money in a single installment, and the rest monthly for 8 years, will apply from January 5, 2027.

Net profit of almost 18 billion euros

The difference between the net assets managed (to which the payments made by the funds are added) and the gross contributions received represents the net gain obtained for the participants, in a total amount of 93.4 billion lei (17.8 billion euros).

The average return of all Pillar 2 funds over the 18 years was 8.6% per year, significantly above the average inflation of approx. 4.8% per year over the same period.

Where is the money invested?

About 95% of the money from Pillar 2 is invested in Romania, making private pension funds the most important domestic institutional investors.

Approximately two-thirds of the money is invested in government bonds and more than a quarter is invested in companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the pension funds thus contributing both to the long-term sustainable financing of the Romanian state, as well as to economic growth and job creation – while maintaining a relatively low risk profile.

Unlike other institutional investors, private pension funds have a much longer investment horizon of decades, which provides stability to the market even during periods of high volatility.

All relevant indicators of the private pension system are currently at record levels, strengthening participants' confidence in this long-term savings mechanism, the association says.

Developments in Pillar II after the Middle East war and the domestic political crisis

In recent years, APAPR also mentions, Pillar 2 has successfully crossed numerous episodes of volatility that temporarily affected financial markets and implicitly the profitability indicators of pension funds: the 2020 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the global explosion of inflation in 2022, episodes of domestic political uncertainty, etc.

Each time, after these temporary declines, private pension funds have resumed growth, with the most recent example of rapid recovery being provided in 2026 after the episode of volatility caused by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the local political and economic situation, APAPR claims.

Despite these adverse factors, private pension funds in Pillar 2 continued to register positive investment results in the first part of 2026.

“From the beginning of the year until May 22, 2026, the funds in Pillar 2 recorded returns between 7% and 10%, translated into a net gain for participants of 18.1 billion lei (3.5 billion euros), only in this first part of the year,” the association stated.