Silver age: the number of pensioners in Russia has decreased
As of October 1, 2025, over 40.6 million pensioners lived in Russia. Of these, 7,354 million continue to work, and 33,308 million are on well-deserved rest, according to the Social Fund of Russia. For comparison, at the beginning of 2025, 41.17 million pensioners were registered in the accounting data of the SFR, which indicates a slight decrease in their number over the past months. Izvestia investigated what measures are being taken to stimulate employment among senior citizens, as well as how demographic trends affect the pension burden in the country.
Strategic guidelines
In 2025, a new Strategy for Actions in the interests of older citizens was approved, calculated until 2030, Ivan Abramov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, told Izvestia. This document defines key areas of government policy and focuses on issues related to the work of older people.
The main objectives of the strategy include increasing the level of material security for older citizens and creating conditions conducive to their employment. An important goal is also to extend the period of active longevity, which involves developing opportunities for self-realization, gaining new knowledge and mastering modern technologies.
— The practical implementation of these ideas is planned through the national projects "Family" and "Long and active Life", which will become key tools for the implementation of the strategy, — said the senator. — The demographic situation in Russia is putting increasing pressure on the pension system, as the proportion of the elderly population is increasing, while the number of able-bodied citizens, on the contrary, is decreasing, which increases the burden on the socio-economic mechanisms of the country.
In 2025, due to the peculiarities of the transitional period of pension reform in Russia, there is no category of citizens retiring by age, Olga Pozdnyakova, head of the Popular Front, reminded Izvestia. Analytics". In the previous year, 2024, women born in 1966 and men born in 1961 received the right to a pension. The next group — women born in 1967 and men born in 1962 — will receive this right only in 2026.
This situation is associated with a gradual increase in the retirement age, which is why, with a natural decrease in the population, there is no usual replenishment of the number of pensioners by age. At the same time, against the background of low unemployment, the state and employers, according to her, actively encourage older citizens to stay in the labor sector. This is especially noticeable in sectors of the economy where experience and high qualifications are required. Moreover, there is already competition for valuable older professionals in some areas.
— Employers began to value employees at an age because of their knowledge, experience, and skills. The government has programs for retraining and obtaining a new profession, including for people of pre-retirement and retirement age. The indexation of pensions for working pensioners has also been returned," the expert stressed.
The gradual improvement of the quality of medical services, increased commitment to a healthy lifestyle, and the creation of comfortable conditions for recreation and leisure lead to an increase in active life expectancy. All factors together lead to an increase in the employment of older citizens.
Categories of pensioners
When analyzing the situation of pensioners, it is important to consider them as a heterogeneous group comprising several categories, Andrei Zhukovsky, senior researcher at the Institute of Regional Economics and Inter-Budgetary Relations at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia. The first group consists of people who have lost the opportunity to work for health reasons, and their participation in economic activities, including remote forms of employment, is virtually excluded.
The second category includes citizens who continue to work after retirement. They are mostly representatives of the intelligentsia. It is especially important for them to maintain professional relevance and the opportunity to transfer experience to young professionals. In this context, special mentoring programs can play a significant role, especially in such areas as the military-industrial complex, aircraft construction, mechanical engineering and high-tech branches of science.
"There are also people who have retired early due to professional benefits or special working conditions, such as employees of law enforcement agencies, chemical, metallurgical and other industries with harmful production factors," the expert noted. "It is also advisable for them to develop a mentoring institute and departmental programs that allow them to use their experience in training young personnel. especially in the fields of industry, science, defense, and public safety.
According to him, this issue is becoming particularly relevant in modern conditions, since as a result of the break in the continuity of generations in the 1990s and the structural transformations of the economy of that period, many professions faced a shortage of personnel. Today, Russia is forced to restore professional resources on an accelerated basis in order to ensure technological development, import substitution and the achievement of national leadership in key industries.
The demographic situation in Russia has not reached stability over the past 20-30 years, Andrei Zhukovsky believes. After the demographic decline of the 1990s, there was a noticeable increase in the population in the 2000s, which was associated with active government support measures aimed at increasing the birth rate and strengthening the institution of the family.
However, in the last 5-7 years, there has been a natural decline in the population again, and if this trend continues, the demographic burden on the economy and social systems will only increase.
"It is expected that the federal and regional programs currently being implemented to support families, motherhood and childhood will be able to change the situation in a positive way," he said. — With their effective action, we can expect an improvement in demographic indicators, which in the future will lead to a reduction in the burden on the pension system and a more sustainable development of society.
Improving the quality of life of older citizens depends on the level of pension provision, social support measures, employment and income from various sources, Andrei Kholin, chairman of the Labor Relations Commission of the Moscow branch of Opora Russia, noted in an interview with Izvestia. Pension indexation, an increase in the subsistence level, compensation and fixed payments, as well as long-term savings programs play an important role.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Labor, but no response had been received at the time of publication.
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