Pension in 2025: How many years of service are required and how to purchase additional time if you're short.

The presence of insurance experience, which ensures retirement eligibility and the right to receive an old-age pension, is determined on the date when a person reaches the appropriate age. According to Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine "On Mandatory State Pension Insurance," a person is entitled to a pension if they have accumulated at least 32 years of insurance experience. These requirements will increase annually.

How much experience is needed for a pension at age 60

The Pension Fund of Ukraine has provided clear criteria regarding the required length of insurance experience and the right to receive an old-age pension in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Pension Fund of Ukraine has provided clear criteria regarding the length of insurance experience and the right to receive an old-age pension in 2025:

• upon reaching the age of 60 — at least 32 years;
• upon reaching the age of 63 — at least 22 years;
• upon reaching the age of 65 — at least 15 years.

What should you do if you lack the experience for a pension? Experts advise that in such cases, one can enter into an agreement with the Pension Fund of Ukraine to acquire additional insurance experience. Furthermore, the Pension Fund has indicated that contributions can be made not only for oneself but also for another person. This option is available for both insured and uninsured individuals. The main condition is to be over 16 years old and meet one of the following criteria:

• be employed abroad (if planning to receive a pension in Ukraine);
• be approaching retirement age if lacking experience;
• have a low level of official income and wish to increase the amount of future pension.

How to acquire experience: Steps to enter into an agreement with the Pension Fund

To enter into an agreement with the Pension Fund for purchasing experience, you need to contact any service center of the Pension Fund regardless of your place of residence, or remotely, using the portal of electronic services of the Pension Fund of Ukraine.

There is a clear instruction for the following actions to enter into an agreement with the Pension Fund online:

1. Open your personal account using an electronic signature, "Dія.підпис".
2. Select the section "Communication with the Pension Fund," then "Agreement for voluntary participation."
3. Enter your personal details (full name, tax number, passport series and number, date of birth).
4. Click "I wish to pay contributions for myself" and provide the necessary information.
5. Agree to data processing and confirm the accuracy of the entered information.
6. Sign the agreement by clicking the "Sign and Pay" button.
7. Pay the contributions by choosing a convenient method.

"You can check the information about the payment crediting and the number of days of acquired experience in your personal account," — explained the Pension Fund.

How much needs to be paid for experience

If a person is not officially employed, meaning they are not an insured individual, it is advisable to enter into a contract for voluntary participation in the system of mandatory state social insurance for a period of at least one year.

If a person is not officially employed, meaning they are not an insured individual, it is advisable to enter into a contract for voluntary participation in the system of mandatory state social insurance for at least one year. It is worth noting that the experience is purchased on a monthly basis at the rate applicable in that month.

The amount of the contribution is determined by the individual, but it must be at least 22% of the minimum wage (set at 8000 UAH from 01.04.2024, thus the minimum contribution is 1,760 UAH).

There is no need to renew the contract every year; as long as contributions are paid for each month, the contract is automatically extended and will end if the individual officially gains employment. In that case, the employer will then pay the unified contribution on behalf of the individual.

How to calculate the amount of future pension

The Pension Fund offers a pension calculator available on the portal.

In particular, this calculator helps plan your future and rectify the situation if your future pension amount is too low.

Starting in March, pensions will be indexed according to the law of Ukraine on the state budget.

Therefore, after obtaining an electronic signature (link see above), you can independently perform a preliminary calculation of the pension amount. To do this, you need to:

• log into the personal account of the insured individual on the web portal of the Pension Fund of Ukraine;
• choose the algorithm for calculating the pension: based on the entered data or considering the experience that will be acquired before retirement age;
• update the data on employment history: click the "Add Period" button, enter work periods for which data is missing in the Pension Fund, and provide monthly earnings amounts (if necessary);
• perform the pension calculation by clicking the "Save and Calculate" button;
• after the calculation, you will receive information about the amount of your future pension taking into account the insurance experience as of the calculation date and the calculation protocol.