Pension Provision in Ukraine: Challenges and Threats in Wartime

To ensure decent payments to citizens of retirement age, people with disabilities and other social groups who, according to current legislation, have the right to receive pensions, Ukraine has adopted a three-tier pension system model. However, today, only two levels of this system are functioning, facing challenges caused by the war. The purpose of the article is to analyze the state of pension provision in Ukraine through the prism of assessing the income and expenses of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the officially established retirement age and the level of pension payments, as well as identifying problematic aspects and areas for improving the pension system in modern conditions. The results of the study show that the level of pension payments is influenced by general economic indicators, in particular, such as the state of the national economy, the number of citizens of retirement age and officially employed persons and the economically active population. The article estimates the income and expenses of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Based on an analysis of Ukraine's position in the context of increasing the retirement age, taking into account foreign experience, the authors established the causes and consequences of low pension provision. Although the transfer of funds for providing housing subsidies to the population and benefits for housing and communal services to the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine has affected its deficit, the need to find sources of financing pension payments still exists. The results of the analytical assessment of the size of pension payments indicate that their volume is insignificant, especially for pensioners who receive old-age pensions. At the same time, there is an increase in the number of pensioners who have become disabled, which will require additional expenditures from the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine and is a negative trend caused by the war. The study presents a generalized view of the problems of pension provision in Ukraine and some measures to solve them. The results of this study are the basis for substantiating the mechanism for improving pension provision in Ukraine.