In 2025, Kazakhstan plans to increase pensions and social payments, allocating over 6 trillion tenge for these purposes. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nurlan Baibazarov at a briefing in the Government House.
According to the government press service, from 1 January 2025, the authorities will index key social payments.
The solidarity pension, or the pension paid from the contributions of the working population, is promised to be increased by 8.5%, while social benefits and the basic pension will rise by 6.5%. It is reported that this decision is aimed at compensating for inflationary costs for the most vulnerable categories of the population.
The republican budget for 2025 provides funding for 42 types of social payments. For these purposes, the budget is promised to be increased by 12.5% compared to 2024 — which is higher than the expected inflation rate.
It is noted that the social payment system should cover around 2 million Kazakhstani families. As of 1 November 2024, targeted social assistance (TSA) was received by 76,000 families, which amounts to approximately 403,000 people. In 2025, funding of 875.1 billion tenge is planned to support families with children.
Significant changes have also affected the education sector. From 1 September 2024, student stipends were increased: for undergraduate students by 20%, and for master's and doctoral students by 15%. Employees of scientific organisations received salary increases: by 18%, with a further increase of 17% from January 2025.
Furthermore, the government plans to integrate systems of state and non-state organisations for a more efficient distribution of social support. However, the full picture of these changes remains unclear.
It will be recalled that in April of this year, it was reported that 5,918 Kazakhstanis received a special social payment (SSP) for individuals who have worked for a long time in hazardous working conditions. A total of 6,648 people applied for the payment. The average amount of SSP payments was 208 thousand tenge.