Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin and Finance Minister Madi Takiyev plan to assess their own level of well-being using the new methodology of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population and find out whether they could qualify for state benefits, the website infohub.kz reports.

According to the heads of the agencies, they have not yet tried to calculate their incomes by social benefit category, but intend to do so in the future.

"We'll check. Why not," the deputy prime minister said briefly.

Takiyev, for his part, noted that the well-being calculator is available to every citizen of Kazakhstan on the Ministry of Labor's website.

Recall that in Kazakhstan, a family's level of social well-being is assessed in points. The assessment takes into account income, housing, cars, employment, loans, social risks and other indicators.

The methodology provides for five categories:

A — prosperous (from 1,800 points): the family has a high income level, several properties and cars, a business or assets, full access to services and stable employment;

B — satisfactory (from 730 to 1,799 points): the family has an average or above-average income, its own home and car, stable employment and basic access to services (healthcare and education);

C — unsatisfactory (from –30 to 729 points): the family has a low or unstable income, may have one home, possible loans, partial employment or no work at all, as well as certain social risks (children, health, etc.);

D — crisis (from –460 to –29 points): no sufficient income, no quality housing of its own and no financial cushion, no stable paid work, and no free money for basic needs;

E — emergency (up to –459 points): a complete lack of income, a high debt burden, including overdue loans, no housing or poor living conditions, no employment, and serious social risks (many children, disability, lack of access to services).

Earlier, Kursiv wrote that around 522,000 Kazakhstanis could lose state benefits because of the neediness criteria being introduced from January 1, 2027. According to Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan has about 77,000 citizens with a high ("A") level of well-being, while the remaining 445,000 fall into the affluent category ("B"). However, the Ministry of Labor is still working on an exact count of these categories of citizens.