Ministry of Labour proposes to raise pension age

The ministry thinks life expectancy of Belarusians increased, so the pension age should be raised.

Respublika newspaper learnt this from deputy minister of labour Valery Kavalkou.

“Everyone understands that we've faced the need of raising the pension age,” Kavalkou said. “The current state pension age (55 for women and 60 for men) was set as early as in 1956. These people went through collectivisation, the war and hard post-war years. Physical and psychological stress could not but affected their health and thus work ability. This pension age (the age of retirement) had grounds at that time.”

Kavalkou says the conditions and quality of life changed and life expectancy, including that after the pension age, rose.

“These factors as well as the current demographic situation with a tendency to population ageing make us to raise the pension age,” the official says. “Russia, which faced itself in a similar situation, discusses this possible measure. It's worth noting that the low pension age (55 and 60 for women and men respectively) was preserved only in three former Soviet countries – Belarus, Russia and Uzbekistan. At this stage, we propose to encourage people to retire later by setting benefits for each additional year of work after the retirement age.”