First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Monday he was against a proposal by Russia’s Finance Ministry to raise the pension age in the country to 63 years.
“My personal position is that we need to change the pension formula instead of the pension age,” Shuvalov said.
The Finance Ministry has proposed increasing the pension age in Russia from 2015. The ministry said the age should be raised gradually, six months for women and three months for men annually until both categories reach equal retirement age. Currently, women retire at the age of 55 and men at the age of 60 in Russia.
Shuvalov said Russian citizens should have the right to retire at the age of 55 or 60 and get the pensions they have earned.
The retirement age in Russia is much lower than in other European countries. Miners, lumberjacks, pilots, cosmonauts, as well as those in a dozen of other professions are entitled to retire even earlier.
The World Bank recommended Russia raise the retirement age, following forecasts suggesting Russia’s economically-active population will shrink by 25 million people to 2050 due to unfavorable demographic trends.
