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- They won't do it by the year: pensions of working citizens have increased less than inflation
They won't do it by the year: pensions of working citizens have increased less than inflation
The pensions of those who continue to work have not caught up with the price increase for almost ten years. Since 2016, payments have increased by 78%, while official inflation over this period was 83%, Izvestia estimates. Even with the resumption of indexation for employed senior citizens in 2025, the gap could not be completely closed. Last year, pensions for employees were raised by 15% to 21.4 thousand rubles, although they had not been indexed for nine years before. Some people quit for a short time in order to recalculate, while others continued to work and accumulated retirement points. Nevertheless, payments remain below a fifth of the average salary, and the real price increase, especially for pensioners, is noticeably higher than the official one.
Why have working Russians' pensions increased?
By the end of 2025, the average pension of working citizens was 21.4 thousand rubles, and those who are no longer working - 24 thousand. Over the year, payments to the first increased by 15% (from 18.6 thousand in December 2024), and to the second - by only 10% (from 21.7 thousand), follows from the data of the Social Fund, which was reviewed by Izvestia. At the same time, insurance pensions were indexed by 9.5% in 2025.
The fact is that starting in 2025, working pensioners began to increase their inflation payments again. Prior to that, they had not been indexed for nine years, starting in 2016. Nevertheless, during this time, the average amount of employed people has increased by about 78%, Izvestia estimates. Then, according to Rosstat, it was about 12 thousand rubles.
The resumption of indexing is designed to take into account all the gains that people have missed over the years. For the calculation, they do not take the actual amount, but a conditional amount — how much a pensioner could receive if the increase went every year.
The mechanism is as follows: first, they took a person's pension for the end of 2024, then added all the missed increases for 2016-2024 - this became the basis for the calculation. But the increase was credited not to her, but to the actual amount that the citizen received.
For example, if a pensioner received 15 thousand rubles in December 2024, and the missed increases amounted to another 4 thousand, then the calculation basis will be 19 thousand. When indexed by 9.5% in 2025, about 1.4 thousand were added to them. As a result, the payment increased to 16.4 thousand rubles. All the lost raises will be fully included only after the dismissal — then the person will receive 19.4 thousand.
The increase in payments to working pensioners since 2016 is explained by two factors. The first was the annual August adjustment due to the employer's insurance premiums: she could add up to three retirement points per year. The second is an increase in the cost of the pension score, even despite the freezing of indexation, explained Ahmed Yusupov, an economist and partner at the Goldmanagency communications agency.
According to the expert, the resumption of indexation gives working pensioners the right to an increase on an equal basis with those who no longer work. After all, they continued to pay contributions to the system all this time.
— It is important to understand that these 78% are not the result of a purposeful social policy, but rather a consequence of the technical mechanisms of the pension system and the continuation of work by pensioners themselves, — Akhmed Yusupov emphasized.
It also played a role in the fact that people began to retire whose careers began in the early and mid-2000s, a period of rising salaries, said Yulia Dolzhenkova, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. In addition, many senior citizens were temporarily dismissed in order to receive a recalculation taking into account all missed increases.
Izvestia sent a request to the Social Fund.
Pensions are barely keeping up with inflation
At the same time, official inflation has increased by about 83% over almost ten years, which is 5 percentage points more than the pensions of employees have increased, even taking into account the returned missed increases, Izvestia estimates.
The amount of payments directly depends on the value of the retirement point at the time of retirement, and the growth over the years was uneven and largely depended on the state of the budget, explained Yulia Dolzhenkova. According to her, the increase was more of a compensatory nature and was not aimed at preventing price increases. As a result, support measures mainly increased nominal incomes, but did not always preserve purchasing power.
The main task of the pension system is to keep payments at a stable and predictable level, rather than outstripping inflation, said Maria Brodovskaya, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Savings Bank JSC. The Russian economy has been adapting to various shocks and severe budget constraints for a long time, which directly affected the growth rate of payments.
At the same time, the spending structure of older people differs markedly from the consumer basket, which is considered official inflation, added Ahmed Yusupov from Goldmanagency. Pensioners spend mostly on groceries, medicines, and utilities — these are the items that have risen in price the fastest. According to economists, taking into account real consumption, inflation for the elderly during this period could reach 90-95%. In this case, the gap between the increase in payments and the rise in the cost of living looks much more serious than 5 percentage points, the expert noted.
As Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global, emphasized, the inflation observed by the population is usually two to three times higher than the official data. According to the inFOM agency, in December 2025, citizens felt a price increase of 14.5%, 2.6 times higher than the Rosstat indicator. If we assume that the living wage of a pensioner is about 80% of the permanent income of an able—bodied person, then the inflation felt by the elderly could be slightly lower than the average - about 12%, but still more than twice as high as the official one.
What should be a comfortable pension?
Despite the resumption of indexation, the amount of payments remains modest. In order for the elderly not to have to continue working, income after retirement should cover not only basic expenses, but also expenses for medicines, leisure, and assistance to children and grandchildren, says Yulia Dolzhenkova from the Financial University. She reminded me: The International Labour Organization estimates that the minimum pension level should be 40% of lost earnings. Meanwhile, according to the latest data from Rosstat, the average salary in Russia approached 100 thousand rubles by autumn.
In the EU and G7 countries, pension provision on average reaches 40-70% of salaries, while in our country it is only 22-24%, said Natalia Milchakova from Freedom Finance Global. This explains the desire of many Russians to continue working after retirement.
The average income of working pensioners of 21.4 thousand rubles at the end of 2025 makes it possible to cover the most necessary expenses, but there is no need to talk about a comfortable old age, Akhmed Yusupov emphasized. After leaving work, payments are recalculated taking into account all missed increases, and the amount is leveled to the level of unemployed — about 24 thousand rubles. However, even this is not enough for many: people stay busy not because of leisure, but for the sake of a larger financial reserve. According to him, the level of 50-60% of the average salary in the region can be considered decent.
In 2026, payments to working pensioners increased by 7.6%. At the same time, the rate of further growth may decrease as inflation slows down, since a sharp increase in incomes can spur price increases, Natalia Milchakova noted.
At the same time, working pensioners will continue to receive the August increase in payments, Olga Belenkaya, head of the Macroeconomic Analysis Department at Finam, reminded. The Social Fund conducts it annually due to the receipt of new insurance contributions from employers.
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