Social Security will once again change the retirement age and the years necessary to be entitled to the full pension (this being the last year) and will require, as of January 1, 2027, a minimum of 38 years and six months of contributions to be able to retire at age 65 and access 100% of the pension (of the existing regulatory base). In the event of not reaching such contributions, the ordinary age will be 67 years, with a minimum of 37 years of contributions being necessary to continue having the right to the full pension.
The first major pension reform that came with Law 27/2011 and that gave rise to the seventh transitional provision of the General Social Security Law (available at this link) where they introduced two big changes. The first of them was about the ordinary retirement age, which would go from 65 years to two ages that would depend on the years of contributions. This change sought to improve the sustainability of the system due to the increase in life expectancy and the arrival of the baby boom generation (born between 1957 and 1977).
In this way, the rule would allow those workers who demonstrated a minimum number of years of contributions to continue retiring at 65 years of age, and those who did not reach that minimum would face an ordinary age that would increase year after year (can be consulted in this table with retirement age according to year of birth).
Retirement age in 2027
Thus, in this way, starting in 2027, the ordinary age will be set at 67 years with the possibility of continuing to retire at 65 years for those who are at least 38 years and six months old.
In the case of accessing voluntary early retirement (which allows the ordinary age to be advanced by a maximum of 24 months), they may retire at age 63 if they have at least 38 years and six months of contributions or at age 65 if they have a minimum of 35 years of contributions. Furthermore, it is necessary that the resulting pension be higher than the minimum pension in force for your family situation at age 65.
In the case of involuntary early retirement (which allows you to advance your age by a maximum of 48 months), the age will be 61 years or older if you are at least 38 years old and have six months of contributions or 63 years old or older, as long as you are at least 33 years old. To this we must add that it is necessary that the withdrawal be due to one of the situations regulated in article 207 of the General Social Security Law.
A minimum of 37 years of contributions to be entitled to 100% of the pension
The years of contributions are used to determine age, but also to know what percentage of the regulatory base you are entitled to, so the more years of contributions, the greater the amount you will receive based on our regulatory base.
Social Security explains on its website that starting in 2027 the percentage will be calculated according to the following values:
- For the first 15 years of contributions you will be entitled to 50% of the regulatory base.
- For each of the next 248 months, an additional 0.19% of the regulatory base will be added.
- For each of the following 16 months, an additional 0.18% of the regulatory base will be added.
In this way, to have 100% of the pension, 37 years of contributions are necessary instead of 36 years and six months, and anyone who has between 20 and 36 and a half years of contributions will receive around one point less of their regulatory base than in 2026. With a regulatory base of 1,500 euros, the calculation would be as follows:
Ignacio Solsona, lawyer: “If before the end of the year you can request an early retirement under good conditions, go ahead, but do not make a hasty decision for fear of a future change that we do not even know if it will come”
He works in Switzerland, he signs up for three months in his wife’s company to collect his retirement pension in Spain and the Social Security annuls it for fraud by not justifying employment
| Years contributed | Percentage in 2026 | Percentage in 2027 | Pension in 2026 | Pension in 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 50% | 50% | 750.00 euros | 750.00 euros |
| 16 | 52.52% | 52.28% | 787.80 euros | 784.20 euros |
| 17 | 55.04% | 54.56% | 825.60 euros | 818.40 euros |
| 18 | 57.56% | 56.84% | 863.40 euros | 852.60 euros |
| 19 | 60.08% | 59.12% | 901.20 euros | 886.80 euros |
| 20 | 62.38% | 61.40% | 935.70 euros | 921.00 euros |
| 21 | 64.66% | 63.68% | 969.90 euros | 955.20 euros |
| 22 | 66.94% | 65.96% | 1,004.10 euros | 989.40 euros |
| 23 | 69.22% | 68.24% | 1,038.30 euros | 1,023.60 euros |
| 24 | 71.50% | 70.52% | 1,072.50 euros | 1,057.80 euros |
| 25 | 73.78% | 72.80% | 1,106.70 euros | 1,092.00 euros |
| 26 | 76.06% | 75.08% | 1,140.90 euros | 1,126.20 euros |
| 27 | 78.34% | 77.36% | 1,175.10 euros | 1,160.40 euros |
| 28 | 80.62% | 79.64% | 1,209.30 euros | 1,194.60 euros |
| 29 | 82.90% | 81.92% | 1,243.50 euros | 1,228.80 euros |
| 30 | 85.18% | 84.20% | 1,277.70 euros | 1,263.00 euros |
| 31 | 87.46% | 86.48% | 1,311.90 euros | 1,297.20 euros |
| 32 | 89.74% | 88.76% | 1,346.10 euros | 1,331.40 euros |
| 33 | 92.02% | 91.04% | 1,380.30 euros | 1,365.60 euros |
| 34 | 94.30% | 93.32% | 1,414.50 euros | 1,399.80 euros |
| 35 | 96.58% | 95.60% | 1,448.70 euros | 1,434.00 euros |
| 36 | 98.86% | 97.84% | 1,482.90 euros | 1,467.60 euros |
| 36 and six months | 100% | 98.92% | 1,500.00 euros | 1,483.80 euros |
| 37 | 100% | 100% | 1,500.00 euros | 1,500.00 euros |
The regulatory base will continue to be calculated in two different ways, but one of them changes in 2027, as appears in the fourth and fortieth transitional provisions of the General Social Security Law (you can consult them at this link), where the most favorable formula of the following two will have to be chosen in 2027 when calculating the regulatory base of the retirement pension:
- The result of dividing the sum of the contribution bases for the immediately preceding 300 months by 350, a method that existed before the reform.
- The result of dividing by 354.67 the sum of the 304 contribution bases with the highest amount within the immediately preceding 308 months.