Women’s retirement age to be raised — in Kazakhstan

Women’s retirement age in Kazakhstan will be raised. This was announced today, April 9, by Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection Viktoriya Shegai.

She recalled that the increase in the retirement age for women had previously been suspended.

“However, under the current legislation, it will gradually be increased to 63, bringing it in line with the retirement age for men,” the deputy minister said.

According to her, this measure is also linked to the size of future pension payments: the longer a person participates in the funded pension system, the higher their future pension will be. At the same time, Kazakhstan is strengthening measures to support the employment of older women.

“The Silver Age program has been launched to help provide employment for older women. We subsidize part of their wages so that employers are encouraged to hire experienced workers,” Viktoriya Shegai said.

It was noted that the current retirement age in Kazakhstan is 63 for men and 61 for women. At the same time, a temporary freeze on increasing the retirement age for women remains in effect. This will continue at least until the end of 2027.

After that, the increase will resume gradually: from 2028, the retirement age will rise to 61.5. It will then continue to increase each year, reaching 63 by 2031. As a result, the retirement age for women will become equal to that for men.

It is worth noting that earlier, individuals receiving pension payments from the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund in Kazakhstan were fully exempted from income tax.