Pension Systems Transformations in Eastern Europe: The Nearest Future
According to the study, Central and Eastern European countries might be considered as a separate Eastern European welfare model with country-specific differences inherent in it. The analysis of the transformation of pension systems in certain groups of Central and Eastern European countries can contribute to the further classification of social regimes in Europe.
The authors of the research digest (Lyubov Bisson, Andrzej Gabarta, Mark Kondratiev, Egor Sergeev) found that when examining pension reforms in the Visegrad Group, a number of factors forming the background of changes are to be considered. These factors include globalization and regional economic integration (including the supranational factor of the European Union), growing economic internationalization and post-industrial society, particularly, demographic shifts it brings about.
An “occasional” approach is the key characteristic of the social systems in the Visegrad countries. Shaped amid global change, these systems are transformed only under the influence of certain impulses which are often external.
On the one hand, some figures implicitly demonstrate that the pension systems of the Visegrad Group are effective. These indicators include poverty rate which is below the OECD average and a low level of inequality among older citizens. On the other hand, a number of economic indicators reveal the poor effectiveness of pension reforms in the group of countries considered. Such indicators include, for example, low investment profitability of pension insurance plans and an insufficiently high replacement rate.
The authors conclude that with the pension systems of the Visegrad Group demonstrating stability in terms of social indicators, the financial stability of these systems may be questioned.
Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Center Digest Project is managed by Olga Voron.
Digest No. 16 is available via the link (RU).