Starting from 2026, all citizens listed as informal workers or who have unknown sources of income will be required to pay ₼16 ($10) per month for health insurance.
Azerbaijan’s Parliament passed the new amendment to the Health Insurance Law on 21 November.
In the event of failure to pay the ₼16 within the prescribed period, an additional fee equal to 10% of the whole amount missed will be added to the total.
Informal employment is defined as the performance of certain activities without an employment contract or civil law contract. The list of persons engaged in informal employment also includes individuals using agricultural land or organising family farms.
An independent expert who spoke to OC Media on the condition of anonymity stated that the amendments were passed as part of the preparations for Azerbaijan’s post-oil period.
‘Unless there is another political cataclysm, the prices of oil and gas products will continue to decrease. Another fact is that alternative energy plays a crucial role in energy transfer, and in this situation, the government prepares the nation for the “worst days” ’.
The expert noted that by issuing this decision, the government is putting the obligation on the people, rather than the state.
‘According to my counting, this situation will affect at least three million people — informal employees’.
MP Musa Guliyev has claimed, as reported by the pro-government media outlet Qafqazinfo, that the new amendment will not make the fee mandatory, but that citizens who do not make contributions will not receive health insurance.
Guliyev compared the prices of the medical examinations like MRIs or ultrasounds in the private sector and emphasised that ₼16 in insurance premiums is not even equivalent.
‘This will serve to protect the principle of social justice’, Guliyev told Qafqazinfo.
Guliyev highlighted that this will also play a role in legalising citizens’ wages and formalising jobs.
‘In this sense, this is a positive step’, he concluded.
Azerbaijan’s government has claimed that unemployment rates reached 5.3% in 2025. However, independent experts have cast doubt on the veracity of the official statistics.
The head of the opposition Real Party, economist Natig Jafarli, noted that 14,900 employees were laid off in 2023; over 11,000 in 2024; and 8,900 in January–September of 2025, at a rate of 35 people losing their jobs each day since 2023.
Aytan Farhadova
