Before the war, the Ukrainian Pay-As-You-Go pension system required large government transfers. Since then, large scale emigration and an increasing number of people eligible for pensions have further increased the need for government transfers and exacerbated the challenges of population ageing. At the same time, the system provides relatively low pension benefits, despite fairly high contribution rates and short time in retirement. This reflects to a large degree a relatively narrow contribution base due to a large informal economy and underreporting of labour income. Reform of the system must encourage participation, secure liveable pensions, and safeguard the system’s fiscal sustainability.
