Pension Reforms in Russia and Post Soviet Union Countries: 1991–2018 Years

Abstract

Pension reforms in the CIS countries have been going on since 1991. Transition of former USSR countries towards market economy and shifts in the social order called for radical transformation of all basic state institutions and social security mechanisms that provide for elderly citizens. The process entailed establishment of obligatory and voluntary pension insurance.Mechanisms of social and corporate insurance have been built with obligatory insurance payments of the employers and workers that helped balance the budgets of pension funds. Information systems have been created to take care of insurance rights and simplify the procedure of pension calculation. The majority of the Commonwealth countries raised the retirement age, introduced the institute of funded pensions, and created funds of non-state pension insurance. However, effectively functioning institutes of pension insurance and the national systems of pension insurance and state social security are yet to be completed. Another factor is the insufficient scope of pension insurance relative to the independently employed and people occupied in the informal sector. Thus, by the end of 2017, pension insurance in the Commonwealth countries covered no more than 40-50% of the total number of economically active population.In this regard, many Commonwealth countries are developing programs that will grant social payments to pensioners at the level of basic social income. The article reviews issues of system transformation in the field of pension insurance in the attempt to reveal typical problems and propose measures for their solution.