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“The European Commission has produced a Green Paper on aging. It forecasts for Lithuania that by 2040. To maintain a constant national aging rate, Lithuania should increase the working age to 72 years. It is not difficult to guess that this forecast would not make happy to our elders, ”wrote Mindaugas Ling presidente, chairman of the Seimas Labor and Social Affairs Committee of the Christian Democrat Group of the Lithuanian National Union, on Facebook.
He pointed out that in 2015. A study conducted in 2006 showed that men in Lithuania would like to work up to 61 years, women up to 59 years. (current retirement age (64 and 63)).
“Even more tragicomically, this forecast appears to be in the context of life expectancy from today’s point of view. In Lithuania, the average life expectancy for men is 71.5 years. (81 years old).
If you are currently over 55 years old in Lithuania. the number of people is around 35 percent. By 2050, those people are projected to exceed 45 percent.
To this day, the age extension is not being considered, but the trend remains clear: we must do everything possible to keep the Lithuanian people active, capable and independent for as long as possible, ”wrote M. Lingė.
Three conditions are needed to achieve this goal
The parliamentarian has indicated three points that must be achieved for this purpose.
One of them is the conditions for healthy aging.
“We have serious challenges. In Lithuania, people are over 65 years old. Worse performance in the EU. For example, only 6 percent. Women in this age group describe their health as good, compared to the average. 36% in the EU and, for example, in Ireland 70%. Disease prevention, early diagnosis and the development of healthy lifestyles are the measures that would most effectively ensure healthy aging, “said M. Lingė.
In addition, according to the parliamentarian, it requires stable pensions.
“Although pensions in Lithuania are indexing and increasing (this year more than 9% on average), the problem of poor elderly people is still relevant. In Lithuania, almost 70 percent. Over 65 years old single people do not may incur unforeseen expenses We spend 5.1% on old-age pensions GDP (2017 data), with an EU average of 9.6% GDP.
There will be no quick and miracle solutions. First, we must work together to increase the share of public finances in social security. In this area, we are far behind the EU average (we spend around 12.5% of GDP, the EU around 19%), ”wrote M. Lingė.
According to the MP, this also requires effective retraining and access to services.
“Retraining programs and other employment programs must pay close attention to older people approaching retirement age. Naturally, as society ages, older people will need more services.
The number of people who may need long-term care in the EU-27 is projected to increase by 19.5 million. 2016 to 23.6 million 2030 Over the next ten years, the EU health and social services sector could generate 8 million jobs. work places. We must also take this into account when planning changes in employment policy, ”said M. Lingė.
Andriukaitis: There are big differences in the EU countries
The former European Health Commissioner, honorary president of the Social Democrats Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, pointed out that these EC recommendations are based on a review of all the processes taking place in the 27 countries.
According to him, this middle term is derived from mathematical calculations based on certain demographic aspects. But it does not include such important things that should be discussed in each country individually.
“If we take the life expectancy indicator, then in their context there are countries that have a life expectancy indicator of 80.2 or 82.1 years. And there are countries that have an average of 75-76 years.
The differences in life expectancy indicators between the west and the center-east of the EU are very large, even up to eight years, ”said Vice-President Andriukaitis.
According to him, another important criterion to take into account when talking about the retirement age is the criterion of a healthy year of life.
“The years of healthy life also vary greatly between Member States. In Lithuania it is between 45 and 50 years old. Our workforce continues to have serious problems, because people have more than one chronic disease (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, muscle problems), but they work.
Meanwhile, the indicator for healthy life years in the western part of the EU is longer, ”said Vice President Andriukaitis.
According to him, the third indicator of healthy aging is also important.
“According to the indicators of healthy aging, again there are big differences,” said Vice President Andriukaitis.
Suggest that quality of life parameters be included in the formula
According to him, the debate on raising the age of the workforce is linked to the demographic challenges of the EU.
“Until 2050. The EU, according to the world population, will have a much smaller population than, say, a very tumultuous Africa, where the number of young people is increasing dramatically.
The EU will shrink demographically. Consequently, the question of the relationship between employees and non-employees arises. (…) If we do not maintain the retirement age in the extension dynamic, we will get into another mess.
But this does not mean that we do not have to take into account the criteria that I have mentioned: differences in life expectancy, healthy aging, healthy working years in the EU Member States. And the fact that we still have differences between men and women, ”said Vice President Andriukaitis.
He noted that the EC itself had suggested that the calculation of the Gross Domestic Product should change and include parameters for human quality of life.
“Now when calculating the length of working age, they seem to count according to old formulas. They must introduce completely new parameters in the formula. I think these parameters will be discussed.
Because if the extension of the working age is discussed, regardless of the parameters of people’s quality of life, at least 14 EU member states will provoke enormous contradictions, ”said Vice President Andriukaitis.
In his view, such an EU calculation will remain only a “theoretical forecast”.
“Because the differences between the member states are very large. In addition, the fight will also have another aspect. Data is accumulating on the long-term medical consequences for a sector of the population. It is not yet clear how this will affect morbidity and healthy life years. We have to think in a complex way, “said Vice President Andriukaitis.
In general, a calculation based on such averages reminded a politician of an old medical joke: “Did you know that the temperature in hospital wards with patients is normal? (…) You come to the room, you see, one is already dead and the other is at 40 degrees. The average is 36.6 degrees. “
There are discussions about early retirement
Discussions on early retirement have started in Lithuania. Early retirement masks the problem of employment for older people who cannot find work, says the Minister of Social Security and Labor. Monika Navickienė assures that the state’s objective should be to keep these people in the labor market for as long as possible, BNS wrote.
“People should be able to stay in the labor market until retirement age. And that should be the main objective here and that is what we should strive for. All the other additional measures show that we are masking the problem a bit and we are trying to find an easier solution, “said M. Navickienė in the Seimas Social Democratic faction on Thursday. According to her, early retirement is not necessarily the best solution.
According to her, early retirement is not necessarily the best solution.
In Lithuania, it is now possible to receive an early pension if there are five years left until retirement, the person has accumulated the required time of service and has no other income. Early retirement now averages € 280. Last year more than 5.5 thousand received it. population.
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