In 2025, almost no Russians will qualify for age-based retirement. Here’s why.
Russia’s 2018 pension reforms, which raise the retirement age from 55 to 60 for most women and from 60 to 65 for most men, have created an unusual situation: in 2025, basically no one will qualify for age-based retirement. This is due to the transition period for implementing the new rules. Meduza explains how this transition works and who (if anyone) still qualifies this year.
Who can’t retire in 2025?
In 2025, a wide range of people will be unable to retire due to the staggered schedule of Russia’s 2018 pension reform, which raised the retirement age. These changes affect the majority of the population impacted by the reform, including regular retirees eligible for social or insurance pensions upon reaching a certain age, government officials, and certain groups with early retirement benefits, such as those who worked in the Far North or equivalent regions.
Under the reform’s parameters, 2025 is a “gap year” during which no one qualifies for retirement.
For those who would have retired in 2021 under the old rules, the retirement age was raised by three years, meaning they could only retire in 2024. Similarly, those who were set to retire in 2022 had their retirement delayed by four years, pushing it to 2026.
This isn’t the first time such a gap year has occurred. In 2023, no one was eligible to retire under the pension system, and the same will happen again in 2027.
By contrast, there were no gaps in 2019 and 2021 for two reasons:
- Concessions for some categories: Some of the first groups affected by the reform were allowed to retire six months earlier than the new schedule.
- A separate timeline for government officials: An earlier pension reform, which applied exclusively to officials at all levels, had its own gradual increase in the retirement age. Initially, the changes progressed more slowly. By 2024, the schedules for the two reforms had aligned.
For most groups of retirees, the transition period will end in 2028. However, for female government officials, the retirement age will continue to rise gradually until it reaches 63 in 2034. This increase was initially intended to apply to all women, but during the reform’s discussions, it was decided to limit the increase for most female retirees to five years instead of eight.
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Will anyone be able to retire in 2025?
There are some exceptions to the rules. Retirees unaffected by the 2018 pension reform will still be eligible to retire in 2025.
First, this includes retirees whose retirement age was never raised and therefore did not have a transition period applied to them. For example:
- Train crew workers: Men born in 1970 and women born in 1975
- Bus, trolleybus, and tram drivers: Men born in 1970 and women born in 1975
- Firefighters: Both men and women born in 1975
- Mothers of three or more children: Women born in 1968, 1969, and 1975, depending on the number of children they have
- Reindeer herders, fishermen, and commercial hunters in the Far North: Men born in 1975 and women born in 1980
Second, retirees eligible for an insurance pension based on criteria other than age will also be able to retire. These include:
- Individuals with disabilities
- Military personnel and other law enforcement officers eligible for a pension based on years of service
- Schoolteachers with sufficient teaching experience
Text by Denis Dmitriev