Pensioners: Echoing the Voices of Every Generation

✍️ S. Rouzbeh

Originally written: 28 August 2025 | Revised: 4 November 2026

In every society, pensioners are a nation's quiet assets. They have devoted years of their lives to education, production, healthcare, services and the running of the country, and at the end of their working lives they expect to live in relative peace and security. In many countries, this stage of life comes with special state support. Free or affordable healthcare, pensions that reflect the cost of living, pensioners' associations and even cultural and transport discounts are among these provisions. Social respect for pensioners is also a principle recognised in many societies.

In Iran, however, the situation is entirely different. The ideological government has not only failed to provide for the public's welfare; amid the crises of inflation, electricity outages, water shortages and expensive housing, even meeting the most basic everyday needs has become difficult for many families. In these circumstances, pensioners face greater pressure than many other groups. Increases in their pensions do not match the rise in the actual cost of living, while delays in paying some outstanding entitlements and fulfilling statutory obligations have compounded their difficulties. For many pensioners, their income does not cover housing, healthcare, food and other necessities, and this has brought them onto the streets time and again.

The government's response to some of these protests has been a security crackdown rather than accountability and reform. In Khordad 1401 (May–June 2022), Social Security pensioners took to the streets in Ahvaz, Shush, Tehran and other cities, demanding pension increases in line with inflation. Published reports described the arrest of a number of protesting pensioners in Tehran. In Mehr 1402 (September–October 2023), steel industry pensioners in Isfahan and Social Security pensioners in several other cities gathered to demand the implementation of pension equalisation, payment of arrears and action on healthcare problems. The protests continued in 1403 (2024–25), when steel industry pensioners once again marched in Isfahan to pursue their demands.

These protests did not cease; they continued into 1405 (2026–27). On 3 and 10 Aban 1405 (25 October and 1 November 2026), Social Security pensioners gathered in cities including Tehran, Ahvaz, Shush, Rasht, Kermanshah and Dezful. Steel industry pensioners in Isfahan also protested over healthcare problems, the performance of supplementary health insurance and the incomplete implementation of pension adjustments. Their demands remained those of previous years: pensions that reflect the real cost of living, adequate healthcare, payment of the government's debts to the Social Security Organisation and fulfilment of statutory obligations.

What is noteworthy, however, is that at some gatherings pensioners' protests have gone beyond purely occupational demands. Their slogans against corruption, discrimination and even death sentences show that at least some protesters do not see their difficulties in making ends meet as separate from the country's wider political and social circumstances.

These are just a few examples of the dozens of peaceful pensioners' protests that have been met with indifference and, in some cases, a security crackdown. Faced with crises, the government has repeatedly resorted to measures such as short-term assistance, media propaganda and blaming foreign enemies, instead of effective structural reforms. Problems with pension funds, accumulated debts, imbalances between resources and obligations, inflation and inadequate healthcare services persist. Viewing matters through a security lens rather than a social one has meant that even the most basic occupational demand is sometimes treated as a threat.

For all this, pensioners are protesters out of necessity. They are not only voicing their own problems; their place in family life and their moral and social standing mean they can also echo the voices of every generation.

Today's pensioner is more than someone receiving a pension. They are a father or mother who may use their meagre income to support an unemployed child, pay for a grandchild's education or forgo their own needs to pay for a spouse's treatment. In many families, a pension forms part of the economic support on which several generations depend. When a pensioner's purchasing power falls, therefore, the pressure does not affect just one person: it also affects the lives of their children and grandchildren.

Numbering millions, pensioners and their families constitute an important social group. Decades of experience of work and life, an understanding of society's problems and their place within multigenerational families can give their demands a weight that goes beyond an individual claim.

Contrary to a common perception, pensioners are not a group apart from other sections of society. They are this country's former workers, teachers, nurses, civil servants and other employees. The problems they face today represent a future that worries many people still in work. Pensioners' protests can therefore link the demands of different generations.

Pensioners are, of course, not immune to economic pressure, threats or security crackdowns. Yet the persistence of their protests over recent years has shown that difficulties in making ends meet and the demand for human dignity do not disappear through indifference or repression.

Disrespect towards pensioners only deepens the crisis of public trust. How can a society promise young people a secure future if it cannot provide security and peace of mind for those who have spent their lives serving it?

Pensioners are not merely defending their rights today; without intending to, they have placed a question before every generation: if this is the fate of those who have worked all their lives, what future awaits the children and grandchildren of this land?

Pensioners echo the voices of every generation, and indifference towards them is indifference towards a nation's memory and future.