The decree on indexing social pensions by 2.9% was signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday, March 22. He noted that 9.6 billion rubles were allocated for these purposes. As Medvedev recalled, the increase in state payments to pensioners occurs annually. Only the size of the coefficient on which the benefits will increase is changing, since it depends on the growth rates of the subsistence minimum for the previous year. So, in 2017 year. it was 8315 rubles, which is 2.9% more than it was in 2016. "Indexing will affect about 4 million people," the Prime Minister specified at a government meeting.

In addition to pensioners receiving social payments for old age, from April 1 pensions will increase for military servicemen who have been conscripted military service, as well as members of their families, for participants in the Great Patriotic War, for citizens affected by radiation or man-made disasters and their families , for flight test units and a number of other categories. Thus, from April 1 the average size of the social pension will increase by 255 rubles and will be 9062 rubles. At the same time, other state benefits will be recalculated, the amount of which depends on social pensions.