Anyone who retires after 35 years of insurance can expect significantly higher benefits today compared to 2010. Nevertheless, the contribution rates have fallen.
The average pension paid for long-term insured persons has risen significantly since 2010, according to the German pension insurance. Anyone who retired last year with at least 35 years of insurance received an average of 1522 euros gross – i.e. without deductions (health and long-term care insurance). That was almost 500 euros more than there was for retirement in 2010 (1062 euros gross).
The main reason for the increases is the comparatively high pension adjustments in recent years, said a spokesman for the pension insurance of the German Press Agency at their representative meeting on Wednesday in Travemünde.
Inflation is to be offset against this. The president of the German pension insurance, Gundula Roßbach, recently said that pensions had risen by more than 32 percent in the west and by more than 47 percent in the east since 2010 – according to the Federal Statistical Office, inflation over this period was around 25 percent.
The contribution rate, on the other hand, decreases
As the pension insurance also reported, the contribution rate fell from 19.9 percent in 2010 to 18.6 percent in this period, despite the significant increase in pensions. It is as low as it was in the mid-1980s. “This positive development shows the strength of the statutory pension as a central pillar of old-age security in Germany,” said Rüdiger Herrmann, current chairman of the assembly of representatives.
The 30-strong representative assembly is made up of half representatives from the insured and half from the employer side and is elected every six years in the social elections. Among other things, the committee decides on the annual budget of the German Pension Insurance Association. The Federal Assembly of Representatives of the Pension Insurance, another self-governing body that is responsible for basic and cross-sectional tasks and common matters of the various pension insurance institutions, will also meet on Thursday.
The Federal Council had only approved the annual pension increase last Friday. As of July 1, retirement benefits will increase by 4.39 percent in the west and 5.86 percent in the east.
Source: Stern
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