Since 2017, pension requirements in Ukraine have been increasing annually. This year, to retire at age 60, you need at least 31 years of service. This number will increase to 35 years by 2028. This means that those who do not meet these requirements will be forced to work until age 63 or 65.
Not only the fact of having experience, but also payments to the pension fund during this period are of particular importance. For many Ukrainians, this change in requirements came as a surprise. For example, a resident of Dnipro, Svitlana, who worked unofficially in a grocery store for 20 years, officially registered only in 2017.
“I won’t have enough experience. What should I do? Keep working,” she said. According to her calculations, if she hadn’t registered on time, she would have had to work until she was 63 instead of 60 to receive her pension.
It is currently difficult to estimate how many Ukrainians will not be able to retire at the age of 60 in 2028. The situation with the coronavirus pandemic and full-scale war has significantly affected the labor market and pension system. According to preliminary estimates, in 2028, 45% of Ukrainians will not be able to receive a pension at the age of 60, 5% of whom will work until the age of 65.
However, Lidia Tkachenko, a senior researcher at the Institute of Demography and Social Research, notes that there are no accurate forecasts yet regarding the number of people who will not be able to gain the required length of service. She emphasizes the difficulties of predicting labor market conditions for the coming years.
Currently, there is a significant decrease in the number of pensioners in Ukraine, which is associated not only with the military conflict and occupation, but also with the general trend towards increasing the retirement age.
