Sustenance level in Ukraine is being raised from 1 July 2019, which means pensions and other social payments linked to it will also increase.

From 1 July 2019 the monthly sustenance level in Ukraine is being raised to 1936 hryvnia (USD 74). The social pensions 600,000 Ukrainians get will be raised to 1564 hryvnia (USD 60) per month. It is not a misprint. Let’s find out how it works.

Pensions in Ukraine: Who is going to get the raise and how much?

The monthly sustenance level in Ukraine prior to July 1 was 1853 UAH (USD 71).

From 1 July 2019 the general sustenance level is being raised to 1936 hryvnia ($74).

Certain categories have their own allowances (in Ukrainian hryvnia)

• Kids under 6: 1699
• Kids 6-18: 2118
• People of the working age: 2007
• Non-working people: 1564

Pensioners in Ukraine are considered “non-working people” and the ones who are on social pensions (the minimum retirement payout) receive the amount equal to the sustenance level for non-working people.

Thus, Ukrainians on the minimum social retirement payouts (approximately 600 thousand citizens), starting from July 1 will get a monthly payment of 1564 hryvnia (USD $60), Etcetera reported. It is 67 hryvnia ($2) more than previously.

The other retirees (about 11 million) whose social payments are higher than the minimum, will be paid extra for the years of work contributions: 1% for every completed year over the required number of years to qualify for a pension. There are basically no private (non-government) funding of retirement benefits in Ukraine at the present time (no analogues of 401K plan as in the USA). It is all funded by the government, i.e. Ukraine’s budget.

Currently males have to work for 35 years to get a pension and females for 30 years. In actual numbers, this means that a pensioner who worked 5 years longer than the required number of years, will get 3 hryvnia more monthly (about USD 0.10), totally negligible amount, yes.

Special pensions

Disabled war veterans, ex military personnel who served in conflicts (Ukraine has an army conflict within the boundaries of two self-proclaimed independent “republics” on the Russian border) who are currently on minimum pensions, will be getting a more substantial raise to their monthly payments.

Disabled persons of the 1st category will get 191 UAH (4457 UAH in total), the 2nd category of special needs – 171 (3988 UAH), the 3rd category – 151 UAH (3519 UAH) pension.

Participants from the war zones will be given a raise of 110 hryvnia (to the amount of 2470 UAH in total).

People who got a disability as the result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in 1986, will get at least 2346 hryvnia (100 UAH extra) – for the category I, 1955 (+84 UAH) – for II group, 1720 (+74 UAH) – group III.

By the end of 2019 the sustenance level should rise to 2027 UAH (USD 77). For pensioners, however, it will remain lower: only 1638 hryvnia (USD 63). 

This is the amount that a non-working Ukrainian who is retired is supposed to live on for a month, paying for electricity, water, repairs, food, clothing, transportation, and entertainment. Any ideas how these people are surviving?

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