Pensions will be indexed again in March: what Ukrainian pensioners can expect
11 February 12:56
This year, almost UAH 528.3 billion will be allocated to pay pensions granted in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”. This was announced by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev, according to
According to the MP, the budget of the Pension Fund also takes into account the recalculation of pensions/monthly insurance payments in 2025 in connection with the indexation of pension and social benefits starting March 1, 2025. The indexation is expected to be carried out using a coefficient of 1.10, which means that pensions are expected to increase by 10%.
How reasonable is such a modest indexation?
According to Danylo Hetmantsev, given that the country will soon enter the fourth year of a full-scale war and everything collected in the country in the form of taxes is used to finance the needs of the Security and Defense Forces, and non-military expenditures are provided through the assistance of international partners, this is not bad.
But, on the other hand, according to the MP, plus 10%, unfortunately, does not cover last year’s increase in consumer prices, which in December reached 12% in annual terms. And in the first months of 2025, the situation is expected to remain difficult. So even after next month’s indexation, Ukrainian pensioners (if we exclude certain categories of recipients of “special pensions”) will remain among the poorest in Europe.
Why pension provision in Ukraine is so problematic
Ukraine is twenty years late in implementing a full-fledged pension reform and launching a funded pension system. According to Danylo Hetmantsev, if it had happened in the mid-noughties, today’s “young” pensioners would be receiving payments consisting of two components.
“However, the traditional indecision at times when it is necessary to make difficult but long-term decisions for the state has led to the fact that an entire generation of Ukrainians has fallen out of the accumulation level in Ukraine. We are talking about those who were 30-40 years old in the mid-noughties. Today, they are approaching the end of their working lives, and unfortunately, they can only rely on payments through the solidarity system,” the MP explained.
Danylo Hetmantsev expressed hope that the current Verkhovna Rada, despite the significant reduction in the potential for complex reforms due to the approaching end of its term, will still have the courage and wisdom not to leave the issue of introducing the second pillar of the pension system as a legacy to the next parliament.
What pensions do current pensioners have?
As of the beginning of 2025, the number of pensioners amounted to 10.34 million people. This was reminded by MP Nina Yuzhanina and cited the following data:
“The average pension amount for the last quarter remained almost unchanged and amounted to UAH 5,789.05, while pensions
– more than UAH 10,000 were received by 1.26 million pensioners (average pension is UAH 15.4 thousand)
– from UAH 5,001 to UAH 10,000 – 2.63 million pensioners (average pension 6.9 thousand UAH);
– from UAH 4,001 to UAH 5,000 – 1.94 million pensioners (average pension is UAH 4.4 thousand);
– from UAH 3,001 to UAH 4,000 – 1.82 million pensioners (average pension is UAH 3.5 thousand);
– up to UAH 3,000 – 2.68 million pensioners (average pension is UAH 2.8 thousand).
About 344,000 people receive pensions that do not exceed the subsistence level, and almost 50,000 pensioners receive pensions of less than UAH 1,500.
Pensions over UAH 10 thousand (12% of pensioners) account for 33% of all pension funds.”
What about “special pensions”?
At the beginning of the year, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced restrictions on “special pensions” that exceed UAH 23,610. This refers to pensions of certain categories of pensioners: civil servants, prosecutors, MPs, diplomats, scientists, etc.
