Belarus's Unsustainable Retiree Burden on its Shrinking Workforce


 
Decades of low fertility are causing Belarus’s working-age population to fall. Simultaneously, retirees are living longer and forming an ever-larger part of the population. These factors are causing an extraordinary decline in the number of working-age people available to support the expanding number of retirees.

Number of Working-Age People to each Dependent (65+) in Belarus
The working-age population represents those aged 15 to 64. Period: 1950-2050.
Belarus



Note: Y axis ratios are expressed as “X : 1,” meaning X working people to every 1 elderly dependent.

In 1950, each Belarusian retiree was supported by more than 8 people of working age. By 2050, this is projected to have fallen to nearly 2. Furthermore, the fast-expanding 65+, mostly-retired cohort cost Governments more than the equivalent number of workers, due to unfunded pension, medical and old-age-care costs (3 time seems a minimum). The central problem is, Belarus’s current pension system dates back to the USSR, when the population was growing, and is now on a pay-as-you-go basis. Simultaneously, an unprecedented worker shortage has emerged: as reported in the Financial Times, Belarus currently has approximately 50 times more vacancies than the number of unemployed persons. With the decline of workers paying in, and the rise in retirees taking pensions out, an unprecedented and unsustainable tax burden is emerging in Belarus.

More for subscribers:  
See more...The Alarming Cost of Aging Demographics
See more...See more data for Belarus...
See more...See more Fertility Rate data...
See more...See more 'Number of Workers to Each Elderly Dependent' data...



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