The highest pension in Germany: These factors decide

The highest pension in Germany: These factors decide

The question of which age group in Germany gets the highest pension is a concern for many employees after decades of hard work. The statutory pension alone is often not enough to cover costs in retirement, despite the pension increase in 2024 to an average of around 1,500 euros per month. Experts therefore recommend additional private or company pension provision to meaningfully supplement the statutory pension.

The German Pension Insurance uses data from West Germany up to 1960 to provide information about how much prospective pensioners can expect. Decisive factors for the later pension are the year of birth, the number of years of contributions, the income during working life, the salary points, possible early retirement with discounts and the receipt of other pension benefits such as survivors' pensions.

Pensioners with many years of contributions and a good income have a better chance of receiving a higher pension. If you look at the so-called corner pensioner with 45 earnings points, this corresponds to a pension entitlement of 48 percent of the previous gross wage. In comparison, former pensioners received higher pensions today, due to a booming economy and solid pension financing. Those who retired in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s particularly benefited from this.

However, it remains difficult to say generally which vintages did best, as other factors such as gender, regional differences between East and West Germany as well as personal health and circumstances play a role. Despite everything, the figures make it clear that pensions today are significantly lower than in the past, even though today's pensioners receive nominally higher amounts.