Pension insurance period

What it means

A pension insurance period is the time during which a person was covered by pension insurance: as an employee, a self-employed person, a voluntarily insured person or someone for whom the state pays contributions, for example during parental leave or registration with the labour office.

Entitlement to an old-age pension requires at least 15 years of pension insurance and reaching pension age. The length of the period also directly affects the amount of the pension, because the average personal wage point is multiplied by it.

Under statutory conditions, substitute periods also count, such as study before 1990, military service or childcare. Periods completed in other EU countries are added together when assessing entitlement thanks to social security coordination.

How it works in practice

An overview of insurance periods is given by the pension insurance record kept by the Social Insurance Agency. It is worth requesting a statement several years before retirement and checking that no periods of employment or self-employment are missing.

Missing periods can be supplemented with documents such as employment contracts, employer confirmations or payslips. The sooner discrepancies are found, the easier it is to trace the documents, especially if a former employer no longer exists.

A person without compulsory insurance, for example during a long stay outside the EU or a break in self-employment, can secure insurance periods through voluntary pension insurance. This is particularly worthwhile if only a few years are missing to reach the 15-year threshold.

What to watch out for

For self-employed people, insurance periods are tied to paying contributions. If a sole trader has contribution arrears, the period may, under certain conditions, not count towards pension entitlement until the debt is settled. Regularly checking the statement from the Social Insurance Agency avoids unpleasant surprises.

A shorter insurance period means a lower pension even with high earnings. When planning a career, lengthy study abroad or doing business in another country, it is worth considering how periods will be counted and, where appropriate, saving additionally.