Will Belarusian Women See An Increase In The Retirement Age?

What we know so far.

Belarusian officials are discussing the possibility of raising the retirement age. The social security fund is clearly unable to bear the load: Belarusians are aging, and hundreds of thousands of able-bodied citizens have left the country. Alexander Lukashenko first announced the need to increase the retirement age in 2016. As he said then, the measure is caused by "the need to maintain the living standards of the population in the long term." Until then, men in Belarus retired at 60, women - at 55.

The website Charter97.org took a look at what is known at the moment.

Is the retirement age to be raised by two years?"

Sources of the TV channel "Belsat" claim that the gradual increase will begin as early as 2026. And if during the previous increase in the retirement age was added by half a year each year, now it's going to be raised by a year at once: plus one in 2026 and another plus one in 2027. Thus, in two years, women are expected to retire at 60, while men - at 65.

Will Belarusian women work more?

Economist Lev Lvovsky thinks that in the near future the retirement age may be raised for women - equalize it with the male one. It will turn out that both sexes will retire at 63.

"Until 2030, this situation will be saved. But I hope that Belarus will live after 2030, and after 2050, and for a long time to come. And the further, the more problems with demography, with people," warns the economist.

Belarusians are getting older

The human rights activist Leonid Sudalenko named the main reasons for a possible increase in the retirement age:

- People of retirement age are becoming more and more numerous, while there are fewer and fewer young personnel. I recently saw a story about schools in Homel: somewhere there are not enough children to form classes. This speaks of the falling birth rate. If women do not give birth, the population will age, labor resources are not replenished.

Plus emigration. After the mass repressions of 2020, a huge number of qualified specialists went abroad - not only doctors, but also people from other industries. As a result, we have a shortage of personnel. The shortage of workers and technical professions - people "from the machine" - is especially acute. On the contrary, there is a surplus of economists and lawyers.

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