Skopje, 7 December 2024 (MIA) – The retirement age issue should be comprehensibly assessed, definitely giving 60+ population opportunity to be active and to be able to work if they are healthy and if they choose so, says United Nations Resident Coordinator, Rita Columbia, regarding a recent proposal of the Fiscal Council to raise the retirement age to 67. 

"The most important is to make it optional. Because right now I’m not sure if even health-wise people at 67 currently today in North Macedonia will be able to continue working the same way as they did in their early age. That’s why I’m saying that this issue should be comprehensibly assessed, and definitely giving 60+ population opportunity to be active, to be healthy and to be able to work if they choose so," she points out. 

Columbia says right now, the country is facing a second dividend. 

"It’s called second demographic dividend, people live longer life, and they can contribute longer to the labour market, to the economic development of the country. So, the proposal of 67, I don’t know if it will work well, however what I would say is that investing in people older than 60 years will definitely bring economic dividend. Because if older population at 60, I shouldn’t say older, I’m almost at that age, so 60+ population if they are healthier, if they have active life position, if they want to continue working, maybe not as a second career, they can start a small business, for example, but by choice," she notes. 

In the interview with MIA, Columbia also discusses among other the ongoing campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence”, gender equality in the country, femicide, legislative changes thereof and whether they are sufficient, as well as measures that can be undertaken to reverse the trend of low fertility rates.  

MIA will publish the video interview with the UN Resident Coordinator, Rita Columbia, in full on Sunday.