Military salaries are increasing! Minister Anušić: A better standard of soldiers is the focus of this Government and the goal of my mandate

Today, at proposal of the Ministry of Defence, the Government adopted the Regulation of the value of the personal rank coefficient for calculating the salary of active duty military personnel, which increases the salaries of soldiers, that is, of all active duty military personnel. The coefficients for soldiers’ and NCOs’ salaries will increase the most – those that have been the lowest so far!

Thus, the coefficient of soldiers/sailors will increase from 1.164 to 1.60, which is an increase of the coefficient by 40 percent, and thus the gross salary increases from 1,103 euros to 1,515 euros, that is, the basic net salary of soldiers and sailors increases from 816 euros to 1,080 euros.

Soldier’s salaries, for example, will increase as follows: the gross salary of a Private will increase from 1,148 euros to 1,658 euros, while the net salary is now 1,168 euros. The gross salary of the Private 1st class will increase from 1,194 gross to 1,705 euros gross, or from 874 euros net to 1,198 euros net. The coefficient of the Private will increase by 44 percent, and of the Private 1st class  by 43 percent.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Ivan Anušić has emphasised since the beginning of his mandate that a man, a soldier – officer – NCO, is at the centre of the defence system and that his main ministerial task is to improve the substantive rights and living standards of soldiers – with this Government’s decision, when it comes to increasing salary by raising the coefficients, that announcement has been fulfilled in that part.

The personal rank coefficients for active duty military personnel have not changed since the year 2008, i.e., in the year 2013 the Government reduced those coefficients by three percent, so this coefficient increase is the first after 16 years. During the mandate of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković from 2016 until today, the basic salary of the active duty military personnel has increased by 40 percent.

“In order to popularise military career and to retain soldiers in military service, the increase in salaries and the overall improvement of the soldiers’ standard are the focus of this Government – in this sense, one of the most important measures is increase of the coefficients for calculating the salary of active duty military personnel,” Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Anušić said at session of the Government.

During the mandate of Minister Anušić, the Ministry of Defence has already adopted several measures that had an impact on better military standard – from increasing the amount of daily subsistence allowances in missions, raising the age limit for retirement of soldiers and sailors from 45 to 50 years of age to overall popularisation of the military service. The Government continuously invests in modernisation of the Armed Forces and since the year 2016 it has increased the military budget by 122 percent.