Old Age Pension
Basic Information
Country
Geographic area
Institutions and agencies involved
Population group
Elderly persons
Programme Details
Programme objectives
This is the main old age pension program in the country, applicable to adults over the age of 65 who have a low income.
Programme components
Start date
1994
ECLAC n.d. “Old Age Pension (Universal) (1994-)”. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Non-contributory Social Protection Programmes Database. Accessed 16 February 2024. Available at: https://dds.cepal.org/bpsnc/programme?id=178.
Conditionalities (if any)
The pension is delivered by an official responsible for the payment of the pension, with the presentation of the identification card and the pension voucher.
Sanctions: If false statements have been used to acquire the pension, penalties will be awarded in the form of a fine
Coverage
Programme expenditure
Targeting and eligiblity
Targeting methods
Eligibility criteria
The old age pension (universal) is destined to people older than 65 who have a low income. Only people who have been citizens of Guyana for less than ten years, and foreigners with more than 20 years of residence in Guyana are elegible for this pension.
Eligibility reassessment (if any)
Exit strategies or criteria: The recipients will be disqualified from obtaining the pension if they are inmates of a public institution that offers free accommodation, if the recipient has been out of the country or if he/she is incarcerated.
Coverage and other information
Amount of benefits
Payment/delivery frequency
Benefit delivery mechanism
Bank transfer or Digital transfer to app Mobile Money Guyana (MMG).
ECLAC n.d. “Old Age Pension (Universal) (1994-)”. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Non-contributory Social Protection Programmes Database. Accessed 16 February 2024. Available at: https://dds.cepal.org/bpsnc/programme?id=178.
Government of Guyana. (2023). Department of Public Information. "Human Services Ministry now delivering pension through MMG". Accessed 16 February 2024. Available at: https://dpi.gov.gy/human-services-ministry-now-delivering-pension-through-mmg.
Benefit recipients
The recipient of the pension or someone authorised to collect the pension.
Legal Framework
MIS
Guyana still lacks a supporting data system. The loan provided by the IDB in 2023 (among other actions) will be used towards the creation of a database of beneficiaries of the programs of the social safety net, which allows analyzing beneficiaries by region, age, gender.
