Eurasia

The ISSA Liaison Office for Eurasia promotes regional social security cooperation and networking in Eurasia, and supports the ISSA by promoting the Association’s products and services, organizing events, and facilitating the exchange of good practices among social security institutions in the region. Eurasia is a young region in terms of the ISSA institutional development, but one of the largest in terms of its geographical scope. The ISSA Liaison Office for Eurasia identifies priority topics for social security institutions in the region, and develops and supports the implementation of ISSA activities in cooperation with the ISSA General Secretariat and the ISSA European Network. The working language is Russian, which is spoken by around 265 million people. Social security systems in Eurasia are rooted in the Soviet paternalistic model, characterised by universal coverage, full employment and a wide variety of monetary and in-kind benefits. The state-run pension systems with low retirement ages provided a vast array of early retirement benefits due to hazardous working conditions and/or to people with socially important professions.