Retirement age in Belarus. Belarus may raise the retirement age again

The decision of the Belarusian authorities to raise the retirement age by 3 years was once called "politically acceptable". It is obvious that the new recommendation of the IMF experts on increasing labor activity up to the age of 65 does not fit into the framework of this definition. Will the Belarusian leadership take such a step?

The experts contacted by BG are unanimous in their opinion that it is not worth waiting for an increase in the retirement age in the coming years. However, in the near future, the Belarusian authorities will be forced to return to the issue of pension reform.

“The conclusion of the IMF on pensions is rather observational,” said Evgeny Preigerman, Research Director of the NGO "Debating and Analytical Community" Liberal Club ". - They look at the state of public finances. And it's no secret that this state is far from good. Pension payments are one of the weak points of the system. But so far I have not heard that the issue of further reform of the pension system is a cornerstone requirement of the IMF.”

The IMF mission started on September 21 in Minsk the next round of negotiations on a reform program and a loan for Belarus. Among the issues that were on the agenda were further pension reforms. The Fund recommended that the Belarusian authorities continue them in order to close the pension gap after 2022. Among the measures proposed by experts is a gradual increase in the threshold for entering a well-deserved rest to 65 years, both for men and women.

Registered with labor, employment and social protection authorities There are 2,605.6 thousand pensioners, of which 82% are recipients of old-age pensions.

Recall that Belarus has already taken a step to reform the pension system. Decree No. 137 dated April 11, 2016 provides for a phased annual increase by 6 months of the generally established retirement age from January 1, 2017 until the age of 63 for men and 58 for women. The actions taken solved the problem, but not completely. Employers' contributions and employee contributions approximately correspond to pension payments, IMF experts assess the current state of the Belarusian pension system. Among other things, the recent increase in the minimum length of service for the appointment of an old-age pension from 5 to 20 years helped.

The difficulty is that the chosen option for raising the retirement age will run out by the end of 2022. The Fund's experts predict that in the future the budget of the pension system will decrease annually by approximately 0.15% of GDP. Now Belarus spends about 10% of GDP on paying pensions.

The IMF offers a range of measures, including:

– Gradual increase in the retirement age for men and women up to 65 years and its subsequent linkage to average life expectancy;

– re-indexing pension benefits to inflation rather than the rate of wage growth in the long term (while maintaining a certain mixed option for minimum pensions);

– further restriction of practice early exit on retire;

– measures to stimulate demand for older workers.

Today it is not worth waiting for raising the retirement age to 65, believes Lev Margolin, economist, deputy chairman of the United Civil Party. “This is an action extended in time, he notes. - Nobody prevents Lukashenka, if he hopes to live up to this time, to wait six years until we reach 63. And smoothly, without stopping, proclaim that we will raise up to 65”.

According to the expert, the Belarusian authorities understand that raising the retirement age to 58-63 years will not save the pension fund. He recalled that when the reform was discussed, Alexander Lukashenko said that they considered three options. “We stopped at an intermediate- said Lev Margolin. - I believe that now no one will go for a promotion, because it will not bring economic benefits and will cause a negative reaction in society. But when the age of 58-63 is reached in practice, the question will be what should be raised further.”

IMF recommendation to stabilize the pension system is not a priority, says economist, head of the Mises Research Center Yaroslav Romanchuk. “The IMF evaluated all elements: monetary policy, fiscal, national, public administration, he said. - Wrote, including, and about it. They praised the Belarusian authorities for raising the retirement age.”.

BG experts believe that this recommendation does not belong to the category of urgent and necessary ones, without which Belarus will not be given a loan. “This is far from the main claim on the part of the International Monetary Fund,– shared Lev Margolin. - If something becomes an obstacle, then these are things that more seriously affect the overall situation in the economy. This is a question of the public sector, what to do with it - to privatize, to structure, issues of directed lending and the like. I don’t want to say that they are more serious, but larger and more expensive.”

In Belarus at the beginning of 2016 There were 1,841 elderly women per 1,000 older men.

“The IMF talks about the management of state assets, about the need to reduce inflation, about the independence of the National Bank,”- outlined the key areas of necessary reforms Yaroslav Romanchuk.

In this situation pension issue is unlikely to be the main one when considering the possibilities of financial and credit cooperation between Belarus and the IMF. It will probably come back to him in a few years. And then the retirement age may be raised.

Anna Rybchinskaya/ FINANCE.TUT.BY
September 6, 2019, 11:57

The picture is illustrative. Photo: Vadim Zamirovsky, TUT.BY

Women in Belarus still retire five years earlier than men. And although the authorities have been considering the possibility of reducing this gap or completely abandoning it for years, they have not yet decided on specific steps. At the same time, in many countries, including our neighbors - Ukraine and Lithuania, they decided to equalize the retirement age of men and women. FINANCE.TUT.BY found out whether it is possible (and whether it is necessary) to increase the retirement age for women in Belarus and how this issue was resolved by neighboring countries.

“Work has become less difficult, the birth rate and the associated burden on women have decreased”

The idea, if not equalize, but at least bring the female retirement age closer to the male one, appeared back in 2016, when the government was discussing exactly how the country would raise the retirement age. One of the three possible scenarios assumed an increase in the retirement age for women to 60 years, and for men - up to 63. That is, the gap would be reduced from five years to three.

- Here, it was taken as a basis, first of all, that today the average life expectancy of women is 78.4 years, and receiving a pension - more than 20 years after retirement,- said Marianna Shchetkina, who at that time was the Minister of Labor and Social Security. - But the question arises: can we discount the social aspect, the burden on women today? Should there be a difference between retirement for men and women? What is the burden on women in the household? Have we reached that level of gender equality today?

As a result, the president chose the most benign variant of promotion - for three years for women and men. So the previous five-year gap has been preserved. This year, men retire at 61.5, women at 56.5. In 2022, when the current pension reform, the retirement age will be 63 years and 58 years respectively.

But officials and experts say the most likely move after the current retirement age hike is over is another increase, but now only for women. Last year, this option was discussed in the Council of the Republic. And in January 2019, the Minister of Labor Irina Kostevich, speaking about equalizing the retirement age for men and women, did not rule out that "Maybe we'll come to that."

Finally, IMF experts suggested equalizing the retirement age for men and women. And not just equalize, but also increase to 65 for both sexes.

- This five-year difference in retirement age was laid down in Soviet times, when labor was mostly hard, physical, and women, in addition, gave birth a lot. All this led to the fact that the female body wore out faster, and the state provided social protection for women based on these prerequisites,- explains the Deputy Administrative Director for Development of the BEROC Research Center Anastasia Luzgina. -Now the situation has changed dramatically. Labor has become less difficult, the birth rate and the associated burden on women have decreased. In addition, in many countries, including Belarus, women live longer on average than men.

The expert draws attention to the fact that due to the fact that women live longer and retire earlier, an additional burden falls on the Social Security Fund.

- The Fund should provide social support in the form of pensions and, in addition, continue to pay other benefits, such as children. If we keep the situation that we have now, then the Social Security Fund can go into a state of chronic deficit (as long as it is in surplus), and we cannot take money from the budget to support it indefinitely either,- explains Anastasia Luzgina.

The picture is illustrative. Photo: Miron Klimovich, TUT.BY

Head of the Department of Human Development and Demography of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences Anastasia Bobrova says that retired women live an average of 10 years longer than men.

- According to data for 2018, men who are 63 years old, on average, have another 14 years to live, women at the same age - 20. If you look at the age of 58, men are predicted another 17 years, women 7 years more - 24 years. It turns out that retired women live 10 years longer than men. cites figures Anastasia Bobrova. - Therefore, even if women retire at the age of 60-64, they still, roughly speaking, will have time to live. Given these circumstances, we can say that the female retirement age can be raised to the male one, while for men there is almost no such potential for raising. So raising the retirement age for women could solve two problems at once: firstly, it would be possible to reduce the cost of pensions, and secondly, more people would remain in the labor market.

Anastasia Luzgina draws attention to another problem of an earlier retirement age for women - the need to work out the length of service necessary for retirement in a shorter period than for men.

- Having given birth to a child, a woman goes on maternity leave for three years, which also knocks her out of labor activity. Given the fact that we have a minimum insurance period required to receive a pension, it can be difficult for women to complete the required number of years, especially if there are several children,- explains Anastasia Luzgina. - In addition, now more women themselves want to work longer and not retire so early. At the same time, organizations often do not renew contracts with people who have reached retirement age, even if they are physically healthy and could continue working. As a result, a person has to retire or get a job. new job, which is likely to be lower than the previous one in terms of status and income level.

Anastasia Bobrova suggests taking into account some nuances: for example, reducing the retirement age for women who have 3-4 children.

But even here there can be ambiguous situations,- says Anastasia Bobrova. - For example, if in maternity leave If a man left, not a woman, will the retirement age be reduced for him? This, too, needs to be thought about, given the trend towards the division of family responsibilities. Also, older women are often involved in raising grandchildren. But the age of the birth of the first child is also increasing, respectively, women become grandmothers later, this can happen just in time for 60 years. But we need to build social policy in such a way that women, when they retire, take care of their grandchildren only if they themselves want it.

And how do they solve the issue of the difference in retirement age between men and women in other countries?

In many countries, the retirement age for men and women has long since become equal. For example, in Germany, the USA, Belgium, Denmark, it is 65 years, in Greece and Iceland - 67. Some of the countries in which the gap has so far persisted are being removed or minimized. So, in the UK, the retirement age for women last year finally rose from the previous 60 to 65 for men, and in Israel they plan to raise it from 62 to 65 (men there retire at 67).

Lithuanian experience: “We no longer have a discussion about raising the retirement age”

Another neighbor of Belarus, which has long abandoned the five-year difference in retirement age between men and women, is Lithuania. This year, men there retire at 63 years and 10 months, women - at 62 years and 8 months. In seven years everyone will be retired at 65.

- In Lithuania, there is no longer a discussion about this, because the first reform related to raising the retirement age passed with us a very long time ago, in 1995,- says professor at Vilnius University, economist Romas Lazutka. -Already at that moment it was decided that the difference between the retirement age of men and women would be reduced. The retirement age for women has increased from 55 to 60 years, for men - from 60 to 62.5 years. In 2011, we decided to continue the increase so that by 2026 both women and men would retire at 65. Of course, these increases were never one-time. Each year, the retirement age could be raised by two to four months. These changes were most painfully received by those who were to retire in the near future. But there were not very many such people, and therefore there was no great resistance to the reform.

According to Romas Lazutka, the Lithuanians were generally sympathetic to the convergence and later equalization of the retirement age for women and men.

- Previously, in many countries, the retirement age for women was lower, because in an industrial society, people mostly worked where physical strength was needed. Accordingly, in old age, it became harder for women to work, especially considering that before that they gave birth and raised children. But now there is no argument left for women to retire earlier,- explains Romas Lazutka.

At the same time, the expert emphasizes that it is impossible to confine oneself to equalizing the retirement age for men and women, because "social policy should go in a complex."

- Often, unpaid work in families falls more on the shoulders of women simply because it is customary. This situation is gradually changing, but not fast enough. Efforts must be made to promote these changes, including through laws. For example, the European Parliament has already prepared a decision that fathers take part of the parental leave and they do not have the right to transfer this part of the leave to the mother. This practice is already in place in some countries. Thus, the time spent on raising a child is divided equally, and it becomes easier for women to achieve career heights and work equal time with men,- says Romas Lazutka.

In his opinion, it is very important that there is no discrimination in the labor market related to age and gender.

- Some employers still have prejudices that women at 50 can no longer perform any professional activities, but this, frankly, is just nonsense. Modern women who do not engage in heavy physical labor, distribute household chores, lead healthy lifestyle life, at 50 and older is no worse than young people. The state should also improve the healthcare system, promote a healthy lifestyle, provide people with opportunities for retraining and advanced training. If you deal with the whole complex of social policy at the same time, society will receive only pluses from this. People will not resist raising the retirement age because they will have enough health and opportunities to earn and spend money, have better rest and save more for the time when they can no longer objectively work.

Ukrainian experience: “If the retirement age for men were raised, it would exceed their average life expectancy”

Among the countries that raise the retirement age for women is Ukraine. The process started there in 2011. Every year, the female retirement age adds half a year, so that as a result, by 2021 it will grow from 55 to male 60. This year, the retirement age for Ukrainian women is 59 years.

- The prerequisites for such a decision were very simple: the average life expectancy of women in Ukraine is much higher than that of men,- speaks Vladimir Dubrovsky, Senior Economist, CASE Ukraine. - Men, upon reaching retirement age, live less than 10 years, women - about 18 years even now, after the increase. And at that time, this difference was even greater. It has even been said that women in Ukraine have the longest average life expectancy in retirement in the world. It is clear that this disproportion is unfair and does not correspond to the logic of our existing solidary pension system (a system in which the contributions of working people go to pay pensions to pensioners. - Note ed.).

The picture is illustrative. Photo: Vadim Zamirovsky, TUT.BY

According to the expert, Ukraine also considered various scenarios for raising the retirement age. There were those that included an increase not only for women, but also for men. But they "caused great resistance from society."

- At that time, the average life expectancy for men was 62 years. That is, if we raised the retirement age for men, it would exceed the average life expectancy. The idea to unify the retirement age of men and women did not cause such great resistance, so in the end they decided to stop at it. In addition, this has been discussed for a very long time, since the early 2000s, - explains Vladimir Dubrovsky. - In general, raising the retirement age is a normal phenomenon. Our generation, especially if we talk about city dwellers, is much better at keeping track of health, much more efficient than our parents were at the same age. I am now 57, and my classmates do not look like pensioners at all. They lead an active lifestyle, work, they have children-grandchildren.

But raising the retirement age for women did not solve the fundamental problems of the solidarity pension system, Vladimir Dubrovsky is convinced.

- In countries with such demographics as Ukraine or Belarus, it (a solidary pension system. - Approx. Aut.) in principle cannot exist. In my opinion, such a pension system was originally a gamble, a kind of financial pyramid. But any pyramid collapses sooner or later, and we live just at the time when this is happening, and all over the world. As a result, all attempts to balance the pension fund lead to the fact that participation in the pension system becomes less and less profitable. According to our calculations, women receive from it about 75% of the investment, men - only half. That is, at the exit, people receive less money than they contributed. Therefore, no matter how you raise the retirement age, the pension in the solidarity system will still become less and less profitable.

Why not just raise the retirement age?

And in Norway, a completely paradoxical situation has developed. The retirement age there is now 66 years old, but at the same time, you can retire from 62, while receiving a smaller pension. Statistics show that about half of Norwegian men prefer to retire early, while among women this figure is only 20%. It turns out that when there is a choice, it is far from a fact that it is men who will want and be able to work longer.

Economist Romas Lazutka says a flexible retirement age is an idea that could reconcile all sides on the issue.

- Now in economic circles there is more and more talk about the introduction of a flexible retirement age. Jobs are very different: some are objectively difficult to work after 60, while others, primarily related to mental work, can be worked much longer. In addition, not only the work is different, but also the people themselves. Someone gets sick more often with age, someone, on the contrary, remains healthy. All this leads us to the fact that the idea of ​​a strict retirement age, the same for all residents of the country, is no longer relevant, - considers Romas Lazutka. - Given these circumstances, it would make more sense if people could choose when they would retire, say between the ages of 60 and 70. Of course, if a person retires earlier, then his pension should be less than that of someone who works longer. But such a mechanism can be called more fair, because people are different and their abilities are also different.

Anastasia Luzgina recalls that in any case, it will not work to limit the pension reform to just raising the retirement age.

- Raising the retirement age is a technical measure that partially alleviates the situation in a certain period of time, - says Anastasia Luzgina. - It entails quantitative changes - a reduction in the number of pensioners. But the effect of this will be temporary, and we cannot endlessly raise the retirement age, there is a ceiling here. Given that life expectancy is growing, we can talk about raising the retirement age for everyone to 63 or even 65, but no more. It also needs to take into account the state of health of people. In some countries people retire later, but life expectancy is higher there. This means that in order to optimize the pension system, taking into account the aging of the population and low birth rates, it is necessary to think not only about quantitative, but also about qualitative changes. That is, gradually introduce a funded element into the pension system, better than which nothing has yet been invented.

According to Anastasia Luzgina, the introduction of the funded system will help not only reduce the burden on the Social Security Fund, but also improve the standard of living of the pensioners themselves.

- Now, if a person earns well, after retirement, he can significantly lose income, even though his pension will be increased,- explains the expert. - He has no other way to increase income, except to start working again. If there were a funded element in our pension system, the level of income of a particular person in retirement would depend on how much he personally managed to save.

The picture is illustrative. Photo: Sergey Balai, TUT.BY

Anastasia Luzgina notes that in many countries there are both state pension and personal savings.

- The latter can be formed both in private and state pension funds, but have a direct dependence on the amount of earnings of a particular person. The fact is that no state can provide all pensioners with a high standard of living in the conditions of operation of only a distributive pension system, because funds are limited. The state can guarantee a certain average standard of living for everyone. The work of accumulative mechanisms makes it possible to increase this average level due to personalized accumulations. In Belarus, this issue is already overdue, and it is necessary to start creating such structures now, because the process of such serious institutional changes will take more than one year.

retirement age legally called the number of years determined by the state, after having lived which the citizens of the country constitutionally receive the right to regular payments from the budget of the republic, called pension benefits.

Age pensions are financed by the republican budget. The government obliges employers and employees to pay contributions to the Social Security Fund throughout their careers. For hired workers, this figure is 1% of their earnings, for managers - 28%.

In early April 2016, the leader of the state A. Lukashenko signed a decree providing for an increase in the retirement age threshold by 6 months annually from 01/01/2017 to 01/01/2022. It follows from this that the age of receipt pension benefit will be 63 years for men and 58 for women.

It is important to know that the date of application to the regulatory agency also determines the date of enrollment for government provision.

Persia entry table in Belarus, women
Date of Birth	Retirement date	Retirement age, years
01.01 — 30.06.1962	01.07 — 31.12.2017	55,5
01.07 — 31.12.1962	01.07 — 31.12.2018	56
01.01 — 30.06.1963	01.07 — 31.12.2019	56,5
01.07 — 31.12.1963	01.07 — 31.12.2020	57
01.01 — 30.06.1964	01.07 — 31.12.2021	57,5
07/01 - 12/31/1964 and younger	01.07 — 31.12.2022	58

Persia entry table in Belarus, men
Date of Birth	Retirement date	Retirement age, years
01.01 — 30.06.1957	01.07 — 31.12.2017	50,5
01.07 — 31.12.1957	01.07 — 31.12.2018	61
01.01 — 30.06.1958	01.07 — 31.12.2019	61,5
01.07 — 31.12.1958	01.07 — 31.12.2020	62
01.01 — 30.06.1959	01.07 — 31.12.2021	62,5
07/01 - 12/31/1959 and younger	01.07 — 31.12.2022	63

When is it time to retire?

Born in:

• in the first half of 1962, women and in the first half of 1957, men retire at 55.5 and 60.5 years, respectively;
• in the second half of 1962, women and the second half of 1957, men retire at 56 and 61, respectively;
• in the first half of 1963, women and in the first half of 1958, men retire at 56.5 and 61.5 years, respectively;
• the second half of 1963 women and the second half of 1958 men retire at 57 and 62 respectively;
• in the first half of 1964, women and in the first half of 1959, men retire at 57.5 and 62.5 years, respectively;
• the second half of 1964 women and the second half of 1959 men retire at 58 and 63 respectively.

Retirement age in the world

In addition to the Republic of Belarus, in the near future, the following states are planning to raise the pension threshold:

• the Russian Federation, where there is discussion of raising the age for both sexes to 65;
• Kazakhstan, which plans to equalize the age for women with men (63) from 2018;
• the United States of America, where the threshold could be raised from 65 to 69;
• Estonia, in which in 2026 the age will be 65 years for everyone.

The reason for initiating reforms for the countries of the former Soviet Union is the demographic crisis of the 1990s, which led to a decrease in the birth rate.

You can quickly find out about this and many other events in the world of money and finance in our groups in

Retirement age - the number of years lived, after which a citizen acquires the right to a pension and well-deserved rest. Until 2016, women in Belarus became pensioners at the age of 55, men - at 60 - these figures were approved back in Soviet times and were among the lowest in the world.

Due to the increase in life expectancy and the growth in the number of pensioners relative to the working-age population, the financial burden on Pension Fund RB has increased significantly. This led to the need to raise the retirement age, which was reflected in the Presidential Decree “On Improving Pensions” dated April 11, 2016.

Retirement table

Current table of retirement age in Belarus:

Date of Birth		Retirement age (years)		Retirement period
men	women	men	women
01.01-30.06.1957	01.01-30.06.1962	60,5	55,5	01.07-31.12.2017
01.07-31.12.1957	01.07-31.12.1962	61	56	01.07-31.12.2018
01.01-30.06.1958	01.01-30.06.1963	61,5	56,5	01.07-31.12.2019
01.07-31.12.1958	01.07-31.12.1963	62	57	01.07-31.12.2020
01.01-30.06.1959	01.01-30.06.1964	62,5	57,5	01.07-31.12.2021
01.07-31.12.1959 and younger	07/01-12/31/1964 and younger	63	58	01.07-31.12.2022

According to the innovations, the retirement age for Belarusian citizens from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2022 is increased by 6 months annually.

In 2018, men with birth dates from July 1 to December 31, 1957, and women from July 1 to December 31, 1962, become pensioners. Accordingly, their age is 61 and 56 years.

Upon completion of the reform, the retirement age for the female population will be 58 years, for the male - 63 years. Further increase in this moment not envisaged, but such a possibility is currently being analyzed by specialists from the departments concerned (especially with regard to women).

Each year, the reform will affect the interests of approximately 100,000 people, of which every 50,000 thousand will have to wait an additional six months for a pension, and the remaining 50,000 for a year.

Who will not receive a labor pension?

It should be remembered that we are talking about labor pension which not everyone is entitled to. This requires not only reaching retirement age, but also developing a minimum insurance period, the duration of which is established by current legislation. Under the insurance experience is meant the interval of time during which deductions were made from the salary of a citizen to the Pension Fund of the Republic of Belarus (or equivalent periods of activity in accordance with applicable law).

Until 2013, inclusive, this indicator was 5 years. From January 1, 2014, it was increased to 10 years, and a year later - to 15 years. Now this bar is increasing annually by 6 months - this will happen until the minimum insurance period required to receive a labor pension is 20 years.

Citizens who have not worked out the minimum insurance period will receive only a social old-age pension. It is paid to men after 65, women after 60, and equals 50% living wage(in 2018 it is 103 rubles).

How about in other countries?

In most European countries, in Japan and the USA, the retirement period varies between 60-65 years, and it is the same for the female and male population.

In Russia today, men and women aged 60 and 55, respectively, become pensioners. However, government documents have already been adopted providing for raising the retirement age during 2019-2028 to 65 and 60 years, respectively.

In Poland, the indicator was lowered from October 1, 2017: instead of 67 years for citizens of both sexes, it is 60 years for women, and 65 for men.

Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are currently undergoing pension reform, which will be completed by 2026 (in Latvia a year earlier). Upon completion, the retirement age for men and women will be 65 years.

In all countries undergoing reform, the increase in the number of aging populations relative to the number of able-bodied citizens is cited as the main reason for its implementation. In countries former USSR this is mainly due to the consequences of the demographic crisis of the 1990s, which led to a decrease in the birth rate.

On the basis of Decree 137 of April 11, 2016 “On improving pension provision”, a pension reform will be put into effect over the next six years (namely, from 2017 to 2022). Annually from January 1, 2017 minimum age for registration will increase by 6 months and by the beginning of 2022 will be 58 years for females and 63 years for males. In addition, in accordance with Decree 534 of December 31, 2015, the minimum required for applying for an old-age pension will increase annually for the same six months (now it is 15 years, and by 2025 it will reach 20).

Reasons for increasing the retirement age in Belarus in 2017

Even from the Soviet Union, Belarus “got it”, which has not changed for decades. However, socio-demographic conditions today have changed significantly: enough a large number of retired citizens are still in a working state (both in terms of health and professional fitness), while the birth rate is noticeably declining, which leads to a reduction in the working population. At the beginning of 2016, there were more than 2 million 350 thousand pensioners, the beginning of 2017 - more than 2.5 million and their number is increasing every year, increasing the burden on. If the old system were retained, most likely, in the near future it would be necessary to increase pension contributions from working citizens (now 1% is paid by the employee and 28% by the employer) and / or reduce the size of the pensions themselves. So, by 2030, spending on pension provision would have grown by about 20 percent compared to 2015. In this regard, the aforementioned decree was signed, the enactment of which will allow maintaining pension costs at the current level, at least for the next 5-8 years.

Changes in the retirement age in Belarus in 2017

The tension in the pension system is growing every year. As of January 2017, pension spending in Belarus is about 9% of GDP. There are 2619.3 thousand pensioners in the country, of which 665.8 thousand people continue to work. Since February of this year, the subsistence minimum budget has changed, respectively, the costs of paying minimum labor and social pensions have also increased. In order to reduce the strain on the pension system, the country has begun a phased increase in the retirement age.

To reduce the pension burden on the state throughout the world in Lately gradually increase the minimum age for retirement. The increase in the retirement age in Belarus in 2017 will occur for the first time since the formation of a sovereign republic and will allow it to approach the world average. Namely, in most countries it is currently set at 60-65 years, and often it is the same for both sexes. In our country, until 2016 inclusive, men retired at the age of 60, women - 55. In view of latest news men born between January 1st and June 30th, 1957, and women from the same period in 1962, will be the first to experience the changes in the pension system. According to the old norms, they should have retired at the age of 60 and 55, respectively, in the first half of 2017. However, since the retirement age will increase by six months on January 1, 2017, citizens falling within this time frame will have to work for another six months and apply for a pension in the second half of 2017, or rather, upon reaching 60.5 years for men and 55, 5 - for women.

Table of retirement age in the Republic of Belarus since 2018

Every year, the reform related to the change in the retirement age will directly affect about 100,000 residents of Belarus, half of whom will retire six months later, the other half - a year. In order to clarify the adopted changes and detailed description case of each category of citizens who are to experience transition period application of the reform, the following was drawn up:

Date of Birth

Retirement age