How many pensioners are there in Russia: statistics by year
As of January 1, 2026, there are 40,523 thousand pensioners in Russia. The peak occurred at the beginning of 2019, when there were 46,480 thousand of them. Over seven years, the number decreased by almost 6 million people, despite the fact that the country's population is aging. Data from Rosstat and the Social Fund of Russia.
Below is the complete series by year, a breakdown by type of pension, a separate story of working pensioners, and an explanation of why there is a step on the chart that cannot be explained by demographics.
Number of pensioners: table by year
Thousand people as of January 1.
| Year | Total pensioners | Of which by old age |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 45,709 | 36,004 |
| 2018 | 46,070 | 36,336 |
| 2019 | 46,480 | 36,710 |
| 2020 | 46,198 | 36,341 |
| 2021 | 45,637 | 35,747 |
| 2022 | 44,682 | 34,638 |
| 2023 | 41,775 | 34,266 |
| 2024 | 41,075 | 33,380 |
| 2025 | 41,170 | 33,380 |
| 2026 | 40,523 | 32,535 |
The series grows until 2019 and then goes down every year, except for 2025, when 95 thousand people were added. The number of old-age pensioners decreased by 3,469 thousand over nine years.
The full set is open in the dataset.
Why the number of pensioners has decreased
The decline has three different sources, and they should not be confused.
Raising the retirement age
The reform started in 2019 and adds one year to the retirement age with a step of once every two years. This is precisely why the peak of the series falls exactly on January 1, 2019: subsequent cohorts began to retire later.
Change in accounting in 2023
Between January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2023, the total number fell by 2,907 thousand people at once; this is the sharpest step in the entire series. Demography does not work that way.
The explanation lies in the structure of the table: until 2023, pensioners for long service (years of service) were listed in it as a separate row, amounting to 2,355 thousand people at the beginning of 2022. Since 2023, this row has been zeroed out, and its contents stopped being included in the grand total in the previous format. It is impossible to compare 2022 with 2023 directly.
Demographics
The third source is the slowest: cohorts born during the war and post-war years are entering retirement age, and they are small in number. The age structure of the population is analyzed in detail in the article "Age composition of the population of Russia".
Pensioners by type of pension
Thousand people as of January 1.
| Type of pension | 2017 | 2022 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old-age | 36,004 | 34,638 | 32,535 |
| Social | 3,134 | 3,273 | 3,525 |
| Disability | 2,280 | 2,218 | 2,349 |
| Survivor's | 1,628 | 1,632 | 1,449 |
| Victims of disasters | 382 | 487 | 562 |
While the main group is shrinking, the other three are growing. Social pensions increased by 391 thousand over nine years, disability pensions by 69 thousand, and payments to victims of radiation and man-made disasters by 180 thousand. The only row besides old-age that is going down is survivor's pensions.
Working Pensioners
A separate series that is declining faster than the overall total.
| Year | Working, thousand | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 9,883 | 22.9% |
| 2019 | 9,667 | 22.0% |
| 2021 | 8,891 | 20.7% |
| 2023 | 7,912 | 18.9% |
| 2025 | 8,209 | 19.9% |
| 2026 | 7,161 | 17.7% |
Minus 2,722 thousand people over nine years, with the share dropping by almost five percentage points. The series is not monotonic: in 2025, the number of working pensioners increased by 343 thousand, the first noticeable rebound in the entire observation period, and in 2026, it was replaced by a decline again.
Men and Women
Among pensioners registered with the Social Fund, as of January 1, 2026, there are 26,973 thousand women and 13,550 thousand men. The ratio is almost two to one.
There are two reasons: women live longer and, prior to the reform, retired five years earlier. The gap in life expectancy is analyzed in the articles "Life Expectancy in Russia by Year" and "Men and Women in Russia".
There are 30,114 thousand pensioners living in urban areas, and 10,409 thousand in rural areas.
How Many Employed Persons per Pensioner
An indicator that determines the sustainability of the pension system:
- Year 2020: 1.53 employed persons per pensioner
- Year 2021: 1.58
- Year 2022: 1.66
- Year 2023: 1.76
- Year 2024: 1.78
The ratio improved by 16% over four years, but not due to employment growth, but because the denominator decreased. The employment rate is analyzed in the article "Employment Rate in Russia by Year".
Questions and Answers
How many pensioners are there in Russia now?
40,523 thousand people as of January 1, 2026, according to the Social Fund of Russia.
How many of them receive an old-age pension?
32,535 thousand, which is 80% of all pensioners.
How many pensioners continue to work?
7,161 thousand people, or 17.7% of the number registered. In 2017, the share was 22.9%.
How much do pensioners receive?
The average amount of the assigned pension is analyzed in a separate article "Average pension in Russia by year" and in the summary by year.
Why is there a different number of pensioners in different sources?
Because they count differently. The total number includes recipients of pensions from law enforcement and security agencies, while the registration data of the Social Fund does not include them: as of January 1, 2026, this is 40,523 thousand in both cases, whereas in 2017 the discrepancy was 2.5 million people.
In Brief
The number of pensioners in Russia has decreased by 6 million since the peak of 2019: 40,523 thousand at the beginning of 2026. The decline is made up of the increase in the retirement age, changes in accounting in 2023, and small cohorts entering retirement age. Within the total figure, old-age pensions are decreasing, while social and disability pensions are growing. The number of working pensioners decreased by 2.7 million, and their share fell from 22.9 to 17.7%.