Pension: How many pensioners get more than 3000 euros a month?

Most Germans only have a retirement without money worries if they have provided privately. In 2023, male pensioners, with at least 35 years of work, got an average of 1800 euros a month, pensioners only 1333 euros.

The individual pension height is of course very different. While some people have to live with less than the average, others get more. A small group of German retirees even receives a pension of over 3000 euros.

If you want to achieve a particularly high pension yourself, you have to understand how their basic calculation works. The amount of the individual pension of one person determines four factors: pension value, earnings points (commonly called “pension points”), access factor and pension type factor.

The pension value will be determined by the Federal Government on July 1 of one year with the approval of the Federal Council. According to the German pension insurance, it is adapted to the “economic situation” in Germany and calculated with the help of a complicated formula. It is the equivalent that corresponds to a pension point (or fee point). It is currently 39.32 euros.

The pension points are the most important size when calculating the pension height. Anyone who is subject to pension insurance in Germany collects pension points year after year. Insured persons can collect more or less than a pension point each year. This depends on how high your income is. The German pension insurance compares the individual income of a person with the average gross income of all insured persons. For 2025 it is 50,493 euros (preliminary value). Anyone who has this annual income will receive a pension point. If you earn less, less is credited than one point. If you earn more, more than one point is credited.

The individual annual income is shared by the average annual income of all insured persons. Anyone who earns 40,000 euros gross in 2025 will receive 0.79 pension points (40,000 / 50.493 = 0.79). This year you can collect a maximum of 1.91 pension points. This determines the contribution ceiling. This limit corresponds to the maximum income for which contributions to pension insurance are paid. For 2025 it is 96,600 euros (calculation of the maximum pension points: 96,600 / 50.493 = 1.91).

The access factor takes into account the access and deductions (commonly called “supply and discounts”) of a pension. You get deductions when you retire prematurely. Deductions if, for example, after reaching the standard age limit, you initially do without the pension. The standard age limit of 67 applies to all those born after 1963. If you retire exactly at this age and accordingly have no attracts or deductions, the access factor is 1.0.

The pension type factor influences the height of the pension as follows: normal old -age pensions and pensions due to full disability have a factor of 1.0. Pensions due to partial disability 0.5. A reduction in earning capacity exists if a person can no longer work or only partially work or only partially or only partially.

The following formula results from these four values:

Monthly pension height = current pension value x pension points x access factor x pension type factor

If you want to get a pension of over 3000 euros, you have to earn above average and pay for a long time to the pension fund. The German pension insurance provides information on how many people received an insured pension at the end of 2023 (pension because of age and due to reduced ability to work).

In 2023, the insured pension was an average of 1091 euros a month. A total of 20.5 million of these pensions were paid.

In 2023, only a fraction of the 16.4 million retailers in West Germany received a pension of over 3000 euros: 14,284 for men, 773 for women.

A pension of over 3000 euros received a proportionally few East Germans as West Germans: 2933 for men, for women 283.

There were a total of 18,273 people in Germany in 2023 who received a pension of over 3000 euros.

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