In Ukraine, the difference between the minimum and maximum pensions has reached a critical point. People who have worked all their lives are forced to survive on 2-4 thousand hryvnias per month, while certain categories, in particular former judges and prosecutors, receive pensions exceeding 100 thousand hryvnias. This was written by the head of the Finance Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Danylo Hetmantsev.
According to him, such a disparity is unfair, and it is time to review the entire pension system. “There are pensioners who receive 2,300-4,000 hryvnias. And there are those who receive more than 100,000 hryvnias, and we are not talking about the military, but about people who took advantage of their position and retired at the age of 35,” he said.
Pension Gap: Statistics and Contrasts
The average pension in Ukraine is 6,341 hryvnias. At the same time, as Hetmantsev notes, 36% of all pensioners live on less than 4,000 hryvnias. These are official data that indicate a deep crisis of justice in the system.
The state budget for 2025 already provides for 34.3 billion hryvnias for payments of special pensions that were assigned by the courts. And while some pensioners are waiting in lines for medicines, others receive payments that are dozens of times larger.
Government steps and future changes
Back in 2024, the National Security and Defense Council adopted a decision to streamline special pensions. The corresponding decree has already been signed. The Verkhovna Rada is preparing for the second reading of bill No. 12278, which provides for the abolition of special pensions for prosecutors.
Hetmantsev is convinced that the pension system should be built on uniform principles, and not depend on connections or positions. In his opinion, increasing the minimum pension to 4,000 hryvnias is a completely realistic goal. But this requires de-shadowing the labor market and redistributing resources within the social system.
Pension justice and war
The politician recalled that Russia started the war against Ukraine back in 2014, when the country was just starting to recover from the economic recession. Since then, a significant part of the state budget has been spent on defense, not on the development of social programs.
“We have no choice: we are forced to finance the army. But this does not mean that we have to put up with injustice within the state,” Hetmantsev concluded.
