Pension provision for Ukrainian military personnel: national and regional dimensions

Abstract

Over the past year, Ukraine has faced the challenge of protecting the integrity of its borders, the lives and health of its citizens, and the existence of the Ukrainian state as a whole. On February 24, 2022, the russian federation launched a full-scale war against Ukraine. Ukrainian servicemen and women have been defending the country's sovereignty from aggressors on a daily basis. Due to these events, the number of servicemen and their families began to increase significantly throughout Ukraine, given the constant mobilization of citizens to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine notes that as of 2022, about 11 million people in Ukraine received pensions, of whom more than 540,000 were military pensioners. However, it is worth noting that the average amount of pensions received by the military in 2022 was about UAH 8,500, which confirms the low level of pension payments to this category of citizens. It should be noted that the average pension of a serviceman in Ukraine is several times lower than the average pension of a serviceman in the United States or one of the European countries (10 times lower than in the United States). This proves that the issue of reforming Ukraine's pension system to create an effective pension mechanism that could guarantee an adequate standard of living for military personnel in retirement is currently acute. After all, building an effective system of social protection for military personnel is a direct responsibility of our state. Accordingly, in the article, the authors identify and analyze the main aspects of pension provision for servicemen and their families in Ukraine, in particular in the Lviv region, namely: the amount of pension payments, depending on the types of pensions to which the serviceman is entitled, and the total amount of expenditures on pension provision for servicemen and their families in Ukraine, in particular in the Lviv region. The analysis provides an assessment of the state of pension provision for military personnel and their families, and formulates practical recommendations for improving the pension provision of this category of pensioners for further reform.