retirement
These age groups receive the lowest pensions in Germany
The statutory pension is usually not enough to live well. However, some age groups receive so little that it is barely enough to secure their existence. It hits these birth years.
The amount of pension a person receives in retirement is individual and depends on various aspects. It is therefore difficult to generalize which age groups have particularly high or low pensions.
Every age group has the same retirement age, i.e. the age at which you can retire without deductions. However, the employment histories within one year group differ greatly.
Therefore, identifying disadvantaged age groups is difficult. However, as an approximation, one can look at the development of pension levels.
Step 1: Find low pension levels
Since absolute numbers say little about how much the pension was worth in the year it was paid out, the pension level is better than the average pension for determining the cohorts with low pensions.
The pension level shows the relationship between a standardized pension (45 years of contributions based on average income) and the average income of an employee.
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The pension level was particularly low in the 2010s:
- 2015: 47.7 percent
- 2014: 48.1 percent
- 2016: 48.1 percent
- 2018: 48.1 percent
In these four years, the standard pension was lower than ever in relation to average income. In order to determine the corresponding age groups, the calculation must be carried out back to the year of retirement. The standard age limit is used for this purpose.
Step 2: Determine your retirement year
For insured persons born before January 1, 1947, reaching the age of 65 is the standard retirement age.
For insured persons born between 1947 and 1963, the limit is between 65 and 67 years. Insured persons born in 1964 or later reach the standard retirement age when they turn 67.
The exact time for each year of birth can be found in the following table:
| before 1947 | 65 | until December 31, 2011 |
| 1947 | 65 + 1 month | 02.2012 – 01.2013 |
| 1948 | 65 + 2 months | 03.2013 – 02.2014 |
| 1949 | 65 + 3 months | 04.2014 – 03.2015 |
| 1950 | 65 + 4 months | 05.2015 – 04.2016 |
| 1951 | 65 + 5 months | 06.2016 – 05.2017 |
| 1952 | 65 + 6 months | 07.2017 – 06.2018 |
| 1953 | 65 + 7 months | 08.2018 – 07.2019 |
| 1954 | 65 + 8 months | 09.2019 – 08.2020 |
| 1955 | 65 + 9 months | 10.2020 – 09.2021 |
| 1956 | 65 + 10 months | 11.2021 – 10.2022 |
| 1957 | 65 + 11 months | 12.2022 – 11.2023 |
| 1958 | 66 | 01.2024 – 12.2024 |
| 1959 | 66 + 2 months | 03.2025 – 02.2026 |
| 1960 | 66 + 4 months | 05.2026 – 04.2027 |
| 1961 | 66 + 6 months | 07.2027 – 06.2028 |
| 1962 | 66 + 8 months | 09.2028 – 08.2029 |
| 1963 | 66 + 10 months | 11.2029 – 10.2030 |
| from 1964 | 67 | from January 1, 2031 |
The four years with the lowest pension levels include the following birth cohorts:
- 2015: 1949
- 2014: 1948
- 2016: 1950
- 2018: 1952
Statistically speaking, pensioners who were born in the late 1940s and early 1950s receive the lowest pensions.
More articles on the topic of pensions:
The actual pensions received in the accounts of these cohorts only partially reflect this approximation. As already shown: A person's individual pension amount is decoupled from the year of birth. Rather, four other factors determine the amount of your own pension.
Read about how your individual pension is made up and how you can influence the amount.
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Source: Stern
