Like in Belarus
The country has been undergoing a pension reform since 2017, which will end in 2025. As a result of adjustments, the retirement age has increased: since last year, women receive pensioner status at 58, men – at 63 years old. And if it is not yet planned to raise the pension bar, then the minimum insurance period will continue to grow. Now, to calculate an old-age pension, a person must officially have worked for 19 years. In 2024, it will take 19.5 years. And by 2025, this period will be 20 years. From this year, you can track your insurance experience and employer contributions to the Social Security Fund from your mobile phone – through a special Social Security Fund app. More than 165,000 people already use this service.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the average retirement pension for a Belarusian pensioner is 670 rubles (about 20,000 Russians).
In Belarus, pension spending totaled 9% of GDP in 2022
This is just under 40% of the average salary in the country. In order to increase the income of the elderly, last year a new voluntary supplementary funded pension scheme with state participation was introduced in the country.
A person pays monthly contributions to the state insurance company (from 1 to 10% of his salary), a proportional percentage (but not more than three) is also deducted by his employer from the personal account of the employee. Moreover, the total burden on the employer to pay contributions to the Social Security Fund does not increase. Due to capitalization and other bonuses, after reaching the generally established retirement age, a person will receive a significant increase (depending on the tariff) in the pension from the insurance company. Payments will go for 5 or 10 years (optional). In addition, participation in the funded pension program does not affect the amount of the regular state pension.
The process of collecting documents before retirement is also facilitated. Since 2003, an individual (personal) accounting system has been operating in Belarus, where all data on an employee’s professional biography and contributions to the Social Security Fund are collected. Thus, holders of a social security green card are required to confirm their seniority on paper only for the period prior to 2003.
The range of pension guarantees is expanding. In particular, the duration of care for children under the age of three, which can be counted in the total experience (from 9 to 12 years), has been increased. The period of insurance experience for granting an old-age labor pension to women who have given birth to four children, to disabled persons of groups I and II, who have been on disability for a long time, has been reduced.
Pensioners in Belarus now make up a quarter of the population, pension spending in 2022 was about 9% of GDP.
Like in Russia
The pension reform in Russia began on January 1, 2019. It is a gradual increase in the age giving entitlement to an old-age insurance pension and a state security pension. The changes will take place in stages over a long transition period ending in 2028. As a result, the retirement age will be raised by five years to 60 for women and 65 for men.
In practice, it looks like this. As a first step, the retirement age was raised six months earlier than the new retirement age. For example, in 2019 and 2020, women born in 1964 at age 55.5 and men born in 1959 at age 60.5 retired. In 2021 and 2022 – women in 1965 at 56.5 years old and men in 1960 at 61.5 years old. After 2022, the retirement age will increase not by six months, but by one year. So, for the first time this year, no one will retire by age. The only exceptions are those who have the right to early appointment of a pension and those who have exercised this right earlier. A similar situation will repeat itself in 2025 and 2027.
In addition to the age conditions, the changes affect the length of service and the value of the individual pension coefficient (IPC), pension points. These two compulsory elements for receiving an old-age insurance pension will also be increased. In 2024, the insurance period will reach a maximum of at least 15 years. It is very important to understand here that it is precisely the period of insurance, and not the length of service, that is, the period of deduction of insurance premiums by the employer is an official job. In 2025, the CPI will reach a maximum of at least 30 points.
Citizens who, at retirement age, cannot accumulate enough experience or insurance points, will be able to count on a social pension, but not immediately, but five years after the generally established retirement age. By 2028, men will receive a social old-age pension from the age of 70 and women from the age of 65. Today, the average social pension in Russia is 12,363 rubles. While the average old-age insurance pension for non-working pensioners is 21,864 rubles.
Of course, the insurance pension can be much higher. It is today formed from a fixed payment, the cost of the retirement coefficients, or points, as well as their number. The fixed part of the pension is the same for everyone, and after indexation on January 1, 2023, it amounts to 7,567 rubles. The pension coefficient, or point, is 123.77 rubles. At the same time, you cannot get more than ten points per year. Their maximum number is given for the payment of mandatory pension insurance contributions from a certain amount of income. Above a certain income, contributions to the Social Fund do not constitute pension rights, but only serve to support current pensioners.
In the meantime
From January 1, 2021, pensions of Russians and Belarusians living in the territories of Russia and Belarus are paid in accordance with the Agreement on Pensions of Workers of Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) of December 20, 2019. The EAEU agreement provides that each member state determines the right to a pension in accordance with its legislation according to the length of service acquired in its territory.
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