About This Service
In the state system of social protection, the pension is the basic instrument replacing salary-based income, and its rules are established by the Law of Georgia on state pensions. This page explains the grounds on which the right to a pension arises (Article 5), the source of financing and the calculation rule (Article 7), the rights and duties of a pensioner (Article 12) and the procedure for applying for the assignment of a pension (Article 13).
The Rise of the Right to a Pension
Article 5 sets the foundation: the right to a pension arises on reaching pension age — 65 years; for women, the right arises from 60. Where a person has simultaneously acquired a right to benefits under this law and under the Law on State Compensation and State Academic Stipend, that person may claim the benefit conferred by only one law — by their own choice. The right to a pension does not arise, and an arisen right ceases, during a period in which the person carries out public activity; the law also names transitional exceptions relating to a circle of persons defined by another law.
The Amount of the Pension and the Calculation Rule
The pension is financed from the state budget, and its amount is determined annually by the law on the state budget for the relevant year (Article 7). In the draft budget, the existing pension is increased by two different rules, by age: for pensioners under 70 — by the average inflation rate of the last 12 months, but by not less than 20 GEL; for pensioners aged 70 and above — by the sum of 80 percent of the arithmetic mean of average inflation over the last 12 months and the real GDP growth rates over the last 6 quarters, but by not less than 25 GEL. Where the increased amount is less than a multiple of 5, it is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 5, and the increase must take place from the very first month of the budget year. The inflation and growth indicators are determined by official statistics, and a calculation rule different from this one is not allowed. The indicators themselves are defined in the law: inflation as the 12-month average consumer price index compared with the average index of the previous 12 months, and real GDP growth as the growth of the relevant quarter compared with the same quarter of the previous year, each rounded to the appropriate precision. The figure is thus the product of statistics, not of the lawmaker's discretion, which makes the calculation transparent and repeatable.