The Colombian Pension System To Have Coverage of 87 Percent in 2052

A Colombian holds the text of the pension reform, July 16, 2024. Photo: teleSUR

July 17, 2024 Hour: 12:15 pm

Currently, only 1 out of 8 women have the right to a pension.

On Tuesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro enacted the pension system reform that will come into effect next year and will gradually expand pension coverage in the country from 24 to 87 percent.

In an event at Bolivar Square in Bogota, the leftist leader signed the law accompanied by Vice President Francia Marquez and in the presence of thousands of workers, farmers, and senior citizens.

“We are doing something important: besides delivering the elderly population a social bonus, we are giving them citizenship and dignity,” said the Colombian president, who took the opportunity to refute criticisms claiming that the pension reform would take pensions away from middle-class contributors.

Approved by Congress, the pension reform aims to address the structural problems of the Colombian system, where informal employment exceeds 50 percent of the economically active population.

The prevailing inequalities have led to only 1 out of 4 Colombians having protection in their old age. The situation is even more dramatic when considering the gender gap, as only 1 out of 8 women have the right to a pension.

Colombia aprobó una reforma a la ley de pensiones, considerada hasta ahora el mayor logro del presidente Gustavo Petro.

La reforma beneficiará a 2.6 millones de adultos mayores, entre ellos trabajadores del campo que jamás habían cotizado pero que llevaban décadas laborando. pic.twitter.com/F6UaMAfSpk
— AJ+Español (@ajplusespanol) June 19, 2024

The text reads, “Colombia approved a reform to the pension law. This has been President Gustavo Petro’s greatest achievement so far. The reform will benefit 2.6 million older adults, including farm workers who had never contributed but had been working for decades.”

To correct this, the new law aims to transfer most pensions to the public system, while the private system will retain voluntary contributions. The new regulation also establishes differences between those who contribute and those who do not.

Through the reforms approved by Petro, over 3 million Colombians over 80 years old will receive a subsidy of US$57 per month even if they are unable to retire.

Although the reform will come into effect on July 1, 2025, the private and public systems will have time to adapt to the changes. It is expected that over 13 million elderly Colombians will have protection in old age by 2052, when the pension system coverage will reach 87 percent of the senior population.

Currently, Colombia has a population of about 52 million people. Its economically active population is about 26 million people, of whom only 10.2 million citizens contribute to a pension system. Therefore, over 14 million citizens lack any form of protection in their old age.

A jury in the in the U.S. has convicted the multinational banana company Chiquita Brands of financing paramilitary groups in Colombia. for financing paramilitary groups in Colombia How much will it have to pay the victims? In this video we tell you.#chiquitabrands #colombia pic.twitter.com/RGlNAYWjmF
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) June 14, 2024