To what extent could the retirement age be increased in Uzbekistan?

Spot reports that Uzbekistan plans to raise the minimum retirement age, citing Murodbek Atadjanov, the executive director of the off-budget Pension Fund.

The draft pension reform proposes raising the minimum retirement age: for men — from 60 to 63 years, and for women — from 55 to 58 years. The increase will happen gradually — every six months.

Murodbek Atadjanov observed that in many countries around the world, the minimum retirement age is 65 years. In Uzbekistan, however, the retirement age has not increased for 32 years since the adoption of the Law “On State Pension Provision of Citizens”.

The specialist observed that life expectancy is rising in Uzbekistan. According to the Ministry of Health, she is currently 75 years old. While 20 years ago pensioners lived an average of 8−9 years after retirement, this has now increased to 12.5 years for men and 20 years for women.

According to him, the decision to raise the retirement age has not yet been made. The Pension Fund plans to launch a dedicated platform for collecting public proposals for pension system reform, which will be open for one month.

After reviewing the received proposals, it is planned to hold a second discussion, make changes, and officially present the pension reform project in the presence of journalists and bloggers.

At the same time, Murodbek Atadjanov allowed a softer option when raising the retirement age — not for six months, but for three months. Thus, the retirement age will increase by one year every four years, and the entire reform will extend to 12 years.

Earlier, it was reported that the IMF was persuading Uzbekistan to increase the retirement age. The republic’s authorities are hesitant and have already delayed the reform preparations.