Uzbekistan will gradually raise the minimum retirement age, announced today the executive director of the Off-budget Pension Fund under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Murodbek Atajanov unveiling the draft project.
The draft has proposed to raise the retirement age for men is from 60 up to 63 years, for women - from 55 to 58 years. The raise will be gradual, six months annually.
Atajanov noted that in a number of countries the minimum retirement age was above 65 years. According to him, Uzbekistan remains one of the few countries where the retirement age has not changed since the adoption of the State Pension Provision of Citizens Law in 1993.
According to the official, life expectancy in the country is rising and, according to the Ministry of Health, has reached 75 years. If previously pensioners lived after retirement for an average of 8-9 years, now it is 12.5 years for men and 20 years for women.
He emphasized that the decision to raise the retirement age had not yet been made. The draft has also proposed launching a special platform to collect proposals from the public, for a period of one month. After analyzing the opinions, the draft reform will be finalized and presented for discussion with the participation of journalists and bloggers.
Atajanov also allowed for a softer scenario: raising the retirement age not by six months, but by three months per year. In this case, the rise by one year will take four years, and the entire reform would stretch out over 12 years.
In July last year, the Strategic Reforms Agency reported that the coverage of the pension system in Uzbekistan is only 38% - due to high informal employment. With a high level of contributions (12-25%) compared to other countries, payments are at an average level. The Agency then studied how to make the country's pension system adequate.
In December 2024, a workshop on pension reform was held in Uzbekistan, during which the preparation of a conceptual document began. It is planned to present it to the president by end-September 2025.
In April 2023, the World Bank in its report "Improving the efficiency of public spending on human capital and water infrastructure in Uzbekistan" proposed that the country raise the retirement age.
The report noted that from the moment the decision was made until the start of its implementation, it is advisable to give pre-retirement workers time to adapt so that they can adjust their life plans.
The International Monetary Fund also noted that Uzbekistan’s current pension system required reform. Among the proposals are raising the retirement age, abolishing preferential rates and switching to automatic indexation of payments. The draft concept of pension reform should be presented to the president by September.
