Pensions (EU)๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ

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Pensions aim to protect retired people from poverty and allow them to enjoy decent living standards. They are the main source of income for about a quarter of the EU population, with the main source of income for older citizens in Europe being state pensions.

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The European Pillar of Social Rights stresses:

  • the right of workers and the self-employed to a pension commensurate with contributions and ensuring an adequate income
  • the right to equal opportunities to acquire pension rights for both women and men
  • the right to resources that ensure living in dignity in old age.

Challenges

The share of older people in Europe’s population and life expectancy are both increasing. European pension systems will need to adapt to stay financially sustainable and be able to provide Europeans with an adequate income in retirement.

Even though pensioners in most EU countries are less likely to be poor than those who work, inequality among pensioners persists:

  • There are significant country differences in poverty risk and pension income.
  • Older women face a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion than older men do, and women’s pensions are more than a third lower on average.
  • People in non-standard or self-employment often face less favourable conditions for accessing and accruing pension rights than those in open-ended, full-time job contracts.
  • The older people get, the higher the risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Policy responses

Pension policy is decided and implemented by each EU country at the national level. The EU supports national efforts to ensure a high level of social protection, including pension adequacy, by facilitating mutual learning and exchange of best practices.

This support includes:

EU legislation protects the pension rights of people who move between EU countries. Social security coordination ensures cross-border protection of state pensions, while the right of mobile workers to supplementary pensions is protected by special rules.

In the European Semester economic coordination cycle, pensions are a priority area, given their role in the wellbeing of Europeans and in the sustainability of public finances.

State pensions abroad

Old-age pensions

Applying for pensions

If you’ve worked in several EU countries, you may have accumulated pension rights in each of them.

You’ll have to apply to the pension authority in the country where you’re living or you last worked. If you’ve never worked in the country where you’re living, your host country will forward your claim to the one you last worked in.

That country is then responsible for processing your claim and bringing together records of your contributions from all the countries you worked in.

In some countries, the pension authority should send you your pension application form before you reach that country’s retirement age. If you don’t receive it, check with your pension authority to see whether they will automatically send it to you.

Documents you’ll need

These vary from one country to another, but you usually have to supply your bank details and some form of identification.

For more exact details, contact the pension authority handling your claim.

Differences in retirement ages

In some EU countries, you will have to wait longer to start drawing your pension than in others.

You can only receive your pension from the country where you now live (or last worked) once you have reached the legal retirement age in that country. If you have accumulated pension rights in other countries, you will only receive those parts of your pension once you have reached the legal retirement age in those countries.

So it’s important to find out in advance, from all the countries where you have worked, what your situation will be if you change the date on which you start receiving your pension.

If you take one pension earlier than the other, it might affect the amounts you receive.

You can get more advice from the relevant authority in the country where you live and/or in the countries where you worked.

Eligibility periods

In some EU countries, you must have worked for a minimum period of time to be entitled to a pension.

In such cases, the pension authority has to take into account all the periods you’ve worked in other EU countries, as if you’d been working in that country all along, to assess whether you’re entitled to a pension ( principle of aggregation of periods).

If it fails to do so, contact our assistance services for help.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/residence-rights/pensioners/index_en.htm

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