The retirement age to access the contributory retirement pension depends on the total number of years contributed to Social Security. Depending on these, the retirement age may be one or the other, so it is advisable to review the retirement table by years of contributions.
Currently, there are two retirement ages: one set at 65 years for those with a long contribution career and another later for those who do not meet that minimum time.
This grows every year and as of January 1, 2027 (last year of the reform) it will be fixed at 67 years (it will no longer grow any more). It is the end of a process that began in 2013 and that has been increasing in each financial year the age and, almost always, the years of contributions necessary to retire at 65, according to the seventh transitional provision of the General Social Security Law.
How many years will you have to contribute to Social Security to request a retirement pension?
For the retirement pension, the reform calendar goes from 2013 to 2027. In it, the years of contributions to retire at 65 have generally been increasing by three months each year, and the legal age by one or two months. The following table shows how it has evolved:
| Retirement year | Years of contributions to retire at 65 | Retirement age with fewer years of contributions |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 35 years and 3 months | 65 years and 1 month |
| 2014 | 35 years and 6 months | 65 years and 2 months |
| 2015 | 35 years and 9 months | 65 years and 3 months |
| 2016 | 36 years | 65 years and 4 months |
| 2017 | 36 years and 3 months | 65 years and 5 months |
| 2018 | 36 years and 6 months | 65 years and 6 months |
| 2019 | 36 years and 9 months | 65 years and 8 months |
| 2020 | 37 years | 65 years and 10 months |
| 2021 | 37 years and 3 months | 66 years |
| 2022 | 37 years and 6 months | 66 years and 2 months |
| 2023 | 37 years and 9 months | 66 years and 4 months |
| 2024 | 38 years | 66 years and 6 months |
| 2025 | 38 years and 3 months | 66 years and 8 months |
| 2026 | 38 years and 3 months | 66 years and 10 months |
| 2027 and following | 38 years and 6 months | 67 years |
Starting in 2027, Social Security requires:
- Have a minimum of 38 years and 6 months of contributions to be able to retire at age 65.
- In the case of having less than 38 years and six months of contributions, the age will be set at 67 years.
The year in which the worker retires counts, not the year in which he or she reaches age. This age also influences when it comes to accessing voluntary and involuntary early retirement.
In voluntary early retirement (which is at the will of the worker), the ordinary age may be advanced up to a maximum of two years, provided that they have a minimum of 35 years of contributions and that the resulting pension exceeds the minimum that would correspond to 65 years.
In involuntary early retirement (when it is due to a dismissal or another cause beyond the worker’s control), it may be brought forward up to four years and Social Security requires that you have a minimum of 33 years of contributions and have been registered as a job seeker for six months.
Both voluntary and involuntary pensions entail a cut in the amount of the pension for life, as shown in the voluntary pension table.
The early retirement ages will remain like this in 2027:
| Early retirement in 2027 | With 38 years and 6 months of contributions or more | With fewer years of contributions |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteer (up to 2 years before) | 63 years | 65 years |
| Involuntary (up to 4 years before) | 61 years | 63 years |
In addition to voluntary and involuntary early retirement, there are other ways to retire before the legal age, including these three:
- Have a disability of 65% or more, or 45% in the disabilities listed in the regulations, which gives access to early retirement.
- Working or having worked in arduous, toxic, dangerous or unhealthy activities with age-reducing coefficients.
- Maintain the rules prior to Law 27/2011, with retirement at 65 years of age. This is the case of those who saw their employment relationship end before April 1, 2013 without being included in any regime again, and those who had it suspended or terminated by an ERE, an agreement, a company collective agreement registered with Social Security or a competition approved, signed or declared before that date. If the current law is more favorable to you, this applies to you.
What percentage of the pension will correspond in 2027 according to the years contributed?
The years contributed determine what percentage of the regulatory base will be collected. The regulatory base is the result of the highest amount between the sum of the 304 highest contribution bases of the last 308 months divided by 354.67 and the sum of the last 300 contribution bases divided by 350.
With 15 years of contributions you are entitled to 50% of the regulatory base and, from there:
- For each month contributed during the first 248 months, 0.19% will be added.
- For the next 16 months, 0.18%.
Thus, workers with 37 years of contributions will be entitled to 100% of the regulatory base, being six months more than what was requested in 2026.
| Years contributed | Percentage of the regulatory base in 2027 |
|---|---|
| 15 | 50.00% |
| 16 | 52.28% |
| 17 | 54.56% |
| 18 | 56.84% |
| 19 | 59.12% |
| 20 | 61.40% |
| 21 | 63.68% |
| 22 | 65.96% |
| 23 | 68.24% |
| 24 | 70.52% |
| 25 | 72.80% |
| 26 | 75.08% |
| 27 | 77.36% |
| 28 | 79.64% |
| 29 | 81.92% |
| 30 | 84.20% |
| 31 | 86.48% |
| 32 | 88.76% |
| 33 | 91.04% |
| 34 | 93.32% |
| 35 | 95.60% |
| 36 | 97.84% |
| 36 and 6 months | 98.92% |
| 37 or more | 100% |
Thus, with 30 years of contributions and a regulatory base of 1,200 euros, the pension will be 1,010.40 euros per month in 2027, as detailed in the guide to how much pension I have left with 30 years of contributions. If it is below the minimum, it can be completed with the minimum complement.
What are the requirements to collect the retirement pension in 2027?
Apart from all the contribution periods that have been mentioned, Social Security will require other specific conditions, which also apply to those who retire without being registered. It will be necessary to comply with:
- A generic contribution period: you will need to have made contributions for a minimum of 15 years.
- A specific contribution period: two of those years must be, as a general rule, within the 15 years immediately prior to retirement (those who retire from a situation in which they had no obligation to contribute have counted since they stopped having it), according to article 205 of the General Social Security Law.
If the future pensioner does not comply with this second period, he will not have the right to the contributory retirement pension even if he has contributed for many more years, which is why it is important to have contributed in the final stretch of his working life. Anyone who is left without it and has little income can request the non-contributory pension, which has its own age, residence and income requirements.
How much will the retirement pension be collected in 2027?
The minimum and maximum amount of the retirement pension will be increased starting in January 2027 with the average of the CPI from December to November, according to article 58 of the General Social Security Law. Although the exact amounts are not yet known, the INE will advance the November CPI on November 27 and will give the final data on December 15. With the CPI known until October, the increase will be around 3.5%, which is what comes out of Funcas’ inflation forecasts.
With this provision and with the extra increase in the minimums established by the fifty-third additional provision of the General Social Security Law, it is possible to make an approximate calculation of what the amounts will be for those who are 65 years of age or older, although the official figures will arrive with the revaluation decree:
Social Security will count as contributions from December 25 the years that professional athletes could not contribute, but those who are already retired will only improve the percentage and will not collect arrears from previous years
Those born in 1962 will be able to retire in 2027 at age 65 if they have contributed 38 years and six months, but the rest will have to complete them or wait until 2029 to collect the pension without a cut.
- The minimum pension with a dependent spouse will be around 1,433 euros per month, a figure that does not depend on the CPI.
- Minimum pension without spouse of 1,018 euros per month.
- Minimum pension with a non-dependent spouse will be around 967 euros per month.
- Maximum pension for those who retire in 2027 would reach 3,481 euros per month.
All will be collected in 14 payments. Those of those under 65 years of age will be known with the decree. The minimum is reached with the minimum supplement, which requires residing in Spain, it is cut if income exceeds a limit that is set each year and has a cap on pensions earned since 2013, so not everyone reaches them. As the Government will be in office after the elections of November 29, 2026, the date of the decree that sets the amounts is not closed.