One of the important tasks of the state is to provide for its citizens. This issue is especially relevant for people who, due to their age, can no longer support themselves on their own. The older generations are completely dependent on the functioning of the pension system; its efficiency determines their standard of living.
The legacy of the domestic system
The pension system of the Russian Federation began its development after the collapse of the Soviet Union. With a difficult legacy, providing for retirees required a fundamental change. The USSR used a solidary pension system. Within its framework, able-bodied citizens ensured the payment of pensions to older generations.
This distribution can be effective if there is a significant preponderance of the working population over the disabled citizens. Russian realities dictate the opposite trend - the number of pensioners per worker is growing. If you add to this indexing of pensions for inflation, the burden on the pension fund will be enormous. Solving the issue through additional injections from the budget means patching up holes that will form again. Therefore, the only way is to carry out deep systemic reforms.
Start of reforms: NPF
The main task of reforms in the pension sector is to translate pension payments into a personalized form. If everyone begins to accumulate funds for their own needs in the future, the deficit of the pension fund can be avoided. The difficulty was that current tax revenues needed to be used to provide for existing retirees. Therefore, the system can be reformed only in stages.
The first stage of the reform took place from 1992 to 1997. The main objective of the initial changes was to create an alternative to state pensions. During this period, the legal framework was prepared for the activities of non-state pension funds (NPF), which allowed Russians to create their own savings for the future. Despite the 1998 crisis, the new structures were able to withstand the onslaught of unfavorable circumstances.
The second and third stages of formation: a mixed system
The second stage of modernization of pensions was implemented in the early 2000s. The choice of the system was stopped at the mixed type, in which the pension consists of three components - basic, funded and insurance. These changes gave a new impetus for more active participation of citizens in ensuring their future. The increased role of the funded part made it possible to remove part of the burden from the basic payments of the pension fund.
The third stage of reforms was implemented at the end of 2013. Previous innovations did not eliminate all the problems, which led to the preparation of a new set of laws. The main task was to balance the receipts and payments of the pension fund, for which NPFs were corporatized, the mandatory funded components of pensions were canceled, and the insurance premium for some categories of citizens was increased.
The development of the pension system requires further steps. Only the transition to a system in which each worker accumulates his own pension will solve the basic problems.
