The pension scheme, in the tenth year of its implementation, presents the need for fundamental changes as a result of demographic developments, where the contributing population is decreasing more than the forecasts and the number of beneficiaries is increasing.

The government, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have analyzed several options, which will be ready this year. Through them, it is intended to correct the problems that emerged from the implementation of the 2014 reform, guaranteeing at the same time the long-term financial stability of the scheme and the pensioners' income.

The changes that are being discussed are expected to take into consideration the reduction of the years with pension contributions. Sources from public entities, which are involved in the discussion on the pension reform, confirmed to local business news provider Monitor under the conditions of confidentiality some of the options that are being discussed, among them there are proposals for reducing the amount of the contribution.

The form of indexation of pensions is also under discussion, where an alternative could be the increase in the same percentage of pensions as the average salary.

The reform aims to strengthen other elements of financial aid for retirees who meet the conditions for retirement. In discussion is the increase of the social pension with the degree of relative poverty.

Also, the changes will consider the development of private schemes, providing incentives for professionals and the self-employed.

The rural pension scheme is also part of the review both in terms of contributions and benefits, as the majority of poor pensioners are currently in rural areas.

The reform, which was a decade in the making and went into effect in early 2015, was based on increasing the years of social security contributions from 35 to 40 years by 2032 and gradually raising the retirement age for women by two months per year, to reach age 63 in 2032 and to reach age 67 for both sexes in 2056.

The other innovation was the increase of the contribution rate for rural areas, equalizing the contributions of farmers with those of urban areas until 2017.

As years of work for pensions increased with the 2014 reform, most retirees not only do not meet the criteria for a full pension, but year after year those who retire have fewer years of work with contributions and receive lower payments than the average pension.

In 2014, there were 460,736 old-age pensions and 28% of them received partial payments, while last year, almost 50% of all old-age pensions were partial.

Most pensioners end up with monthly payments close to the minimum and social pension.

People who retired during 2023 received an average payment of Lek 15,569, this value is 15% lower than the average pension for all retirees.

The experts who are working on the reform stated that there are expected changes in the calculation of the minimum pension and the social pension which are now at the same levels.

In an interview for "Monitor", Emanuel Salinas, Manager of the WB Office in Albania, said that the final proposals will be ready at the end of the year.

The new projections on the pension scheme, according to him, aim to address some problems, improve informality in the labor market, and create a stronger link between contributions and benefits.