Tajik Parties Campaign to Lower Pension Age
Opposition parties in Soghd province in the north of Tajikistan are calling for the retirement age to be reduced so that more people are eligible for a pension.
Tajik Parties Campaign to Lower Pension Age
Opposition parties in Soghd province in the north of Tajikistan are calling for the retirement age to be reduced so that more people are eligible for a pension.
According to reporter Kamari Ahrorzoda, campaigners argue that Tajikistan is an increasingly youthful country, and that economic problems are affecting health at the upper end of the age spectrum so that fewer people make it far into their retirement years.
The parties are calling for a return to the Soviet-era retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for women.
The Tajik authorities increased this to 63 and 58, respectively, in 2001. The argument then was that the resulting savings would allow payments to be increased, but in fact pension levels remain miserably low.
“Compared with the Nineties, far fewer people are retiring and getting a pension,” said Dilbar Samadova, regional party head of the Social Democrats.
Both Samadova and Naimjon Samiev, regional head of the Islamic Rebirth Party, would ideally like the pension age to be even lower than the Soviet one.
Some experts on social service provision warn that increasing the number of pensioners could make the task of actually claiming payments even more of a bureaucratic nightmare than it is now.
The parties are calling for a return to the Soviet-era retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for women.
The Tajik authorities increased this to 63 and 58, respectively, in 2001. The argument then was that the resulting savings would allow payments to be increased, but in fact pension levels remain miserably low.
“Compared with the Nineties, far fewer people are retiring and getting a pension,” said Dilbar Samadova, regional party head of the Social Democrats.
Both Samadova and Naimjon Samiev, regional head of the Islamic Rebirth Party, would ideally like the pension age to be even lower than the Soviet one.
Some experts on social service provision warn that increasing the number of pensioners could make the task of actually claiming payments even more of a bureaucratic nightmare than it is now.
