Head of the Ministry of Labor on Raising the Retirement Age: “This Will Be a National Decision”

The government is not currently discussing a new increase in Moldova’s retirement age, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Natalia Plugaru stated. However, she admitted that this issue may become inevitable in the future due to growing pressure on the state pension system, Radio Moldova reports. “This will be a national decision, and as a country and society we will have to decide who bears this burden. Either we seriously consider raising the retirement age, or we shift the burden to the next generation, which will have to pay higher contributions to the social insurance budget,” the minister said. The pension system remains vulnerable due to the low ratio between contributors and pension recipients. Currently, around 770,000 workers support pension payments for approximately 670,000 beneficiaries, Plugaru noted. “In an ideal scenario, of course, the ratio should be more favorable. If all working-age people were employed, we would have a ratio of one to three,” Natalia Plugaru stated. According to her, the main short-term solution is increasing the number of people actively participating in the labor market, as well as reducing the shadow economy. She noted that, according to official data, the social insurance budget deficit has decreased in recent years from 5.5 billion lei in 2023 to 3.6 billion lei this year. Currently, the standard retirement age for women is gradually increasing and will reach 62 years on July 1, 2026 – six months higher than at present. To qualify for a pension, women must also have a full insurance contribution record of 34 years. According to the National Social Insurance House, the retirement age for men remains unchanged at 63 years, with a full contribution record of 34 years since 2019. Authorities have established that the retirement age for women will continue to increase by six months annually until it is equalized with that of men on July 1, 2028. At the end of last year, Moldova had 672,207 pension recipients, of whom more than 421,000 were women.