How many years do I have to work in Spain to get a pension?
What’s the minimum number of years you have to work in Spain before you can retire? And how about if you want to get a full state pension? Here’s what you need to know.
Before we get into the details of retiring and getting a pension in Spain, there’s a word you need to familiarise yourself with: cotizar.
Cotizar is a verb which means to make or pay contributions, in the sense of paying tax into Spain's social security system (la seguridad social). There’s also the noun cotización used to refer to these social security contributions. We mention this early on as when you deal with Spain’s social security system, these words will always come up.
How long do you have to work in Spain to get a pension?
The minimum number of years you must have worked in Spain (the minimum period of contributions) before you can retire and access a state pension in Spain is 15 years.
To claim a full Spanish pension, you must have worked and contributed for at least 36 years, although this figure will increase to 37 years by 2027.
If you want to have an idea of how many years you have worked, and how long you have left before being able to get a Spanish pension, the easiest way to find out is by checking your vida laboral (working life) profile here.
Logically, fewer years working and paying into the system means that you will get a smaller pension.
It isn’t possible for us to give you an exact idea of how much money you can expect to receive as a Spanish pension because it depends on factors such as how much you earned/contributed, the regulatory base, voluntary or involuntary early retirement among a number of other considerations.
These calculations also change on a yearly basis, but to give you an idea, the maximum contributory pension set by the Spanish government in 2022 is €2,819 gross in 14 payments (one for every month of the year plus 2 extra).
If you haven’t made enough social security contributions throughout your working life in Spain as a result of not earning enough or having an unstable working life, you could still claim a non-contributory pension, which in 2022 amounts to around €491 a month.
One of the best ways to find out how much you are likely to get as a pension is by using some of the online calculators that do all the work for you, such as this one.
The average monthly pension in Spain in 2021 was €1,189 a month, a figure which has increased from €722 in 2006.
If you have many years until you retire in Spain, keep in mind that it’s a well-known fact that the country’s ageing population is putting increasing pressure on the social security system and this is likely to have a big impact on pensions in the long run.
In other words, the figures mentioned above may well be very different in a decade or two, and considering a private pension plan could also be wise to secure your future in old age.
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Before we get into the details of retiring and getting a pension in Spain, there’s a word you need to familiarise yourself with: cotizar.
Cotizar is a verb which means to make or pay contributions, in the sense of paying tax into Spain's social security system (la seguridad social). There’s also the noun cotización used to refer to these social security contributions. We mention this early on as when you deal with Spain’s social security system, these words will always come up.
How long do you have to work in Spain to get a pension?
The minimum number of years you must have worked in Spain (the minimum period of contributions) before you can retire and access a state pension in Spain is 15 years.
To claim a full Spanish pension, you must have worked and contributed for at least 36 years, although this figure will increase to 37 years by 2027.
If you want to have an idea of how many years you have worked, and how long you have left before being able to get a Spanish pension, the easiest way to find out is by checking your vida laboral (working life) profile here.
Logically, fewer years working and paying into the system means that you will get a smaller pension.
It isn’t possible for us to give you an exact idea of how much money you can expect to receive as a Spanish pension because it depends on factors such as how much you earned/contributed, the regulatory base, voluntary or involuntary early retirement among a number of other considerations.
These calculations also change on a yearly basis, but to give you an idea, the maximum contributory pension set by the Spanish government in 2022 is €2,819 gross in 14 payments (one for every month of the year plus 2 extra).
If you haven’t made enough social security contributions throughout your working life in Spain as a result of not earning enough or having an unstable working life, you could still claim a non-contributory pension, which in 2022 amounts to around €491 a month.
One of the best ways to find out how much you are likely to get as a pension is by using some of the online calculators that do all the work for you, such as this one.
The average monthly pension in Spain in 2021 was €1,189 a month, a figure which has increased from €722 in 2006.
If you have many years until you retire in Spain, keep in mind that it’s a well-known fact that the country’s ageing population is putting increasing pressure on the social security system and this is likely to have a big impact on pensions in the long run.
In other words, the figures mentioned above may well be very different in a decade or two, and considering a private pension plan could also be wise to secure your future in old age.
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