Children in Côte d'Ivoire who have lost just one parent can now claim an orphan's pension, a benefit previously limited to those who had lost both their mother and father. The change is part of a pension reform the government adopted a year ago.
The government approved the measure on Oct. 1, 2025, at a Council of Ministers meeting. It was part of a package of reforms to the general pension scheme run by the National Social Security Fund (CNPS), which covers private-sector employees.
Before the reform, the CNPS required that a child be an orphan of both father and mother. At least one parent also had to be receiving a pension or be eligible for one, a condition that concerns the working parent.
On the same day, authorities raised the minimum pension for private-sector retirees to 60,000 CFA francs. Retirees who had been receiving between 30,000 and 59,999 CFA francs are affected. A minimum proportional pension of 37,500 CFA francs was also introduced for workers with incomplete or fragmented careers.
On Sept. 23, 2026, government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly noted that the measures were being implemented by both the CNPS and the Social Welfare Institution-General Pension Fund for State Employees (IPS-CGRAE). He was speaking after a cabinet meeting on a special retirement bonus. He said the reform had extended the orphan's pension to children who have lost either their father or their mother.
Official texts published so far do not set out the new calculation method. The CNPS's previous scale provided 20% of the deceased's pension per child, with an overall cap equal to that pension. The sources reviewed do not say whether those rules have changed, or how the pension is divided between the surviving spouse and the children. The previous age limit of 21 is also not restated in the government's announcements.
The CNPS has said it will handle the technical rollout and provide support to contributors and retirees. Affected families are advised to contact the CNPS or the IPS-CGRAE for application procedures and payment amounts.