Number of elderly people in Belarus has increased by 4.2 percent over last decade

Age is no obstacle to enjoying life

By Tatiana Korobova

Number of elderly people in Belarus has increased by 4.2 percent over last decade

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Elderly people on Minsk streets


Those aged 60 and beyond account for 19.9 percent of the population of Belarus at present: 1,879,900 people. At the beginning of the year, there were 1,224,600 women classed as ‘elderly’, against just 655,300 men. The figure has not changed greatly since 2005, when there were 1,870 elderly women per thousand elderly men; today, the figure stands at 1,869 women.

The trend is for the population to live longer: UN definitions categorise a population as ‘old’ if there are at least 7 percent of people aged 65 years or more. In Belarus, at the beginning of 2014, the share of ‘elderly’ reached 13.9 percent.

Labour, employment and social protection bodies registered 2,549,600 pensioners this August, with 2,084,200 receiving various pensions based on their age. Aged 60 and beyond, 1,796,400 people were receiving retirement pensions; of these, 291,300 also chose to continue working. Just 552 people aged 100 years or older were receiving pensions: 495 women and 57 men. Age is no obstacle to marriage, with 684 weddings taking place in 2013 where both spouses were aged at least 60; the figure rose significantly last year, with 896 women of elderly age marrying and 1,433 elderly men becoming grooms.

The International Day of Older Persons has been celebrated annually, on October 1st, since 1991 — initiated by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation.
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