Arenja & Raj Finanz
Most people abroad have never seen the number. Here it is — what the German state will actually pay you, and what is missing.
Before tax and social contributions. Your yearly figure, not monthly.
Employed in Germany with social contributions deducted. Time abroad does not count.
In today's money. A common rule of thumb is 80 % of your current take-home pay.
Your monthly shortfall at 67
€0/ month
There are several ways to close a gap like this, and which one fits depends on your tax situation, your employer and how long you plan to stay. That is a conversation, not a calculator.
Yes, provided you have met the qualifying period. German pensions are paid worldwide — you do not have to live in Germany to receive one, and there is no requirement to hold German citizenship. What you have earned in contributions stays yours. You simply claim it when you reach retirement age, from wherever you are living then.
You need at least 60 calendar months of contributions — the qualifying period (Wartezeit) — before Germany pays you anything at all. Below that, no pension. This is the single most important number for anyone who spends a few years in Germany and moves on, and very few people know it before they leave. Periods that count include employment, certain periods of childcare and some others, not only months at a desk.
Towards reaching the five years, yes, in many cases. Contribution periods in other EU and EEA states and Switzerland are aggregated to help you qualify, as are periods in countries with a German social security agreement — among them the United States, Canada, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil and Turkey. Each country then pays its own share based on its own contributions. Aggregation helps you qualify; it does not make Germany pay for years you worked elsewhere.
Sometimes, and the conditions are narrow. A refund becomes possible only once at least 24 calendar months have passed since you left compulsory German insurance, and only if you are not entitled to make voluntary contributions — which in practice rules out most EU, EEA and Swiss nationals. Critically, once you have completed the five-year qualifying period you can no longer take a refund; you take the pension instead. And a refund returns only your own employee share, not the roughly equal amount your employer paid. For most people who qualify for a pension, the refund is the worse deal.
The system converts your earnings into points (Entgeltpunkte). Earn the national average salary for a year — €51,944 in 2026 — and you collect one point. Earn double and you collect two, but only up to the contribution ceiling of €101,400, above which nothing further accrues. At retirement each point pays a fixed monthly amount, €42.52 since 1 July 2026. Forty-five years at exactly the average therefore produces about €1,913 a month gross, which is the figure quoted as the standard pension.
The standard retirement age is being raised gradually to 67 for everyone born in 1964 or later. Drawing early is possible from 63 with at least 35 years of qualifying periods, at a permanent reduction of 0.3 % for every month you go early — up to 14.4 % for the full four years. That reduction stays for life, and it applies to the survivor's pension afterwards too.
Partly, and the taxable share depends on the year you start drawing. The share has been rising gradually and reaches 100 % for those retiring in 2058. Health and long-term care contributions come off separately — 12.35 % in 2026 for pensioners with children, 12.95 % without — and those are deducted before the money reaches you, which is why the gross figure on your annual statement is not what you can spend. If you live abroad when you draw, a double taxation agreement decides which country taxes the pension.
Arenja & Raj Finanz