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The Dobrush newspaper compared Belarusian pensions with those in Sweden but got the math wrong
The author used maximum payouts instead of average ones and misstated wage levels.
Belarusian retirees will soon be able to travel the world like Swedes, the author wrote in the newspaper Dobrushsky Krai. She supported her conclusion with a flawed comparison of figures.
On August 13, 2025, the newspaper Dobrushsky Krai published an article titled “Is it true that pensioners in other countries live better than ours?” Its author, Lyudmila Nazarova, reflects on the Belarusian pension system and its similarities to that of Sweden:
“It is also worth noting that pensions [in Sweden] make up only 50 percent of wages. For comparison, according to BelTA, since February 2025 the maximum retirement pension in Belarus has been more than 1,599 rubles (about $530), while the average monthly salary is around 1,926 rubles (over $640). And I believe that one day, without ever living in Sweden, I too will sit on a balcony overlooking the sea, leaving work far behind.”
That would suggest Swedish pensions amount to half a salary, while in Belarus retirees supposedly get more than 80% of the average wage. But the author compared not the average Belarusian pension with the national average wage, but the maximum retirement benefit. The average pension is about one and a half times lower — roughly 900 rubles (about $300). And not all pensioners receive the maximum benefit.
At the time the Dobrush newspaper published the article, the average salary in Belarus was 2,400 rubles (about $800). That means the ratio of the average pension to the average salary was under 40% — lower than in Sweden.
