Retirement amount of private sector employee

Verified 01 January 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Want to know how much you will be retiring and how it is calculated? We present the general rules for calculating the retirement pension of the Social Security Pension Insurance.

It is very difficult to calculate your own retirement pension. On the other hand, you can estimate the amount of your retirement in your personal pension account on the official Retirement Info site.

This estimate is based on data known to your pension plans.

This service allows you to see the estimated amounts of your various basic and supplementary retirement pensions.

You can see the total amount of your pensions, gross, and net before taxes.

You can customize your estimate by changing your starting age or adding missing periods and additional information (children, disability...).

Estimate the amount of your retirement

The amount of your Social Security Pension Insurance retirement pension is calculated as follows:

Average Annual Income x Pension Rate x (Your Duration of Insurance in Pension Insurance / Duration of Insurance to Get a Full Rate Pension)

What is the average annual income?

Your average annual income is average gross wages on which you contributed to Pension Insurance during the 25 years the most advantageous of your career.

If you worked under 25 years of ageHowever, your average annual income is equal to the average of your gross wages during those years of work.

FYI  

Your income for the year you retire is not taken into account.

All pay elements (basic salary, bonuses, overtime) and daily maternity benefits are taken into account for the calculation of the average annual income.

Amounts in francs shall be converted into euros and rounded to the nearest euro cent.

Your annual revenues are revalued by applying the revaluation coefficients in force at the time of your retirement.

Before revaluation, income received from 2005 onwards shall be limited to social security ceiling.

What is pension insurance term?

The pension insurance period is the total of the quarters selected by the pension funds.

The duration of insurance retained by Pension Insurance includes the following periods:

  • Periods in which you contributed to Pension Insurance (insurance quarters). The salary to post 1 quarter is revalued every year
  • Periods of interruption of activity which are assimilated to insurance quarters (periods of sickness, long illness or accident at work, maternity leave, periods during which you received an invalidity pension, periods of unemployment, periods of partial unemployment occurring from 1er March 2020, national duty periods)
  • Pay periods for which Pension Insurance does not have proof of your contributions but validated in view of the evidence you provide, usually your pay slips (periods validated by presumption)
  • Quarters of insurance granted free of charge in particular for child

Reminder

A year can only have four quarters.

Your pension insurance term is listed on your career statement (or individual status report).

You can consult and download your career statement in your personal retirement account on the official website Retirement Info.

My Retirement Account

What is the length of insurance required to obtain a full-rate pension?

The length of insurance required to obtain a full-rate pension varies according to your date of birth :

Tableau - Number of insurance quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension

You were born:

You can retire from:

Number of quarters required to have the full rate

In 1956 or 1957

62 yrs

166 (41 years 6 months)

Between 1er January 1958 and December 31, 1960

62 yrs

167 (41 years 9 months)

Between 1er January 1961 and August 31, 1961

62 yrs

168 (42 years)

Between 1er September 1961 and December 31, 1961

62 years and 3 months

169 (42 years 3 months)

1962

62 years and 6 months

169 (42 years 3 months)

1963

62 years and 9 months

170 (42 years 6 months)

1964

63 yrs

171 (42 years 9 months)

1965

63 years and 3 months

172 (43 years)

1966

63 years and 6 months

172 (43 years)

1967

63 years and 9 months

172 (43 years)

From 1er january 1968

64 yrs

172 (43 years)

What is the rate used to calculate your retirement pension?

The rate applied to your average annual income is 50% if you are entitled to a full rate pension. This is especially the case if you fill in one of the following 2 conditions :

  • You retire before age 67 with the required number of quarters, regardless of plan, to qualify for a full-rate pension
  • Or you retire at age 67, no matter how many quarters you have, regardless of your plan

However, if you retire before the age of 67 without the required number of quarters in order to be entitled to a full-rate pension, for all schemes, the 50% is reduced by 0.625% by missing quarters within 20 quarters.

This reduction is called the discount.

Example :

If you were born in 1962, you are entitled to a full rate pension (calculated on the basis of 50% of your average annual income) from 62 years and 6 months if you are 169 quarters or at 67 years of age regardless of the number of quarters.

  • You're retiring before age 67 with 169 quarters all validated with Pension Insurance. If your annual income is €38,400 (3200 x 12), your annual pension is €38,400  x 50% x (169 / 169) = €19,200, or a gross monthly pension of €1,600
  • You're retiring before age 67 with 169 quarters of which 120 are validated with the Pension Insurance and 49 are validated with another pension fund. If your annual income is €38,400 (3200 x 12), your annual pension is €38,400  x 50% x (120 / 169) = €13,633.13, or a gross monthly pension of €1,136.09
  • You're retiring at age 67 with 158 quarters all validated with Pension Insurance. If your annual income is €38,400 (3200 x 12), your annual pension is €38,400 x 50% x (158 / 169) = €17,950.29, or a gross monthly pension of €1,495.86
  • You're retiring at age 67 with 158 quarters of which 120 are validated with the Pension Insurance and 38 are validated with another pension fund. If your annual income is €38,400 (3200 x12), your annual pension is €38,400 x 50% x (120 / 169) = €13,633.13, or a gross monthly pension of €1,136.09
  • You're retiring before age 67 with 158 quarters all validated with Pension Insurance. If your annual income is €38,400 (3200 x 12), your annual pension is €38,400 x 43.125% x (158 / 169) = €15,482.13, or a gross monthly pension of €1,290.18
  • You're retiring before age 67 with 158 quarters of which 120 are validated with the Pension Insurance and 38 are validated with another pension fund. If your annual income is €38,400 (3200 x 12), your annual pension is €38,400 x 43.125% x (120 / 169) = €11,758.58, or a gross monthly pension of €979.88

FYI  

Your pension is upgraded to 1er January of each year.

In some cases, the amount of your retirement pension may not be less than a minimum amount, called minimum contribution.

What are the conditions to be met in order to benefit from the minimum contribution?

You are entitled to the minimum contribution if you meet the following conditions:

  • You benefit from a pension from the Pension Insurance at full rate
  • You have applied for all your pensions from all the basic and supplementary schemes, in France and foreigners, to which you have rights
  • The total amount of such pensions shall not exceed €1,367.51

The minimum contribution is automatically granted to you if you meet these conditions to benefit from it.

What is the amount of the minimum contribution?

There are 3 scenarios:

  • 1er case: you are retiring before age 67 by having the number of quarters required to be entitled to a full rate pension and all these quarters are contributed, the amount of your pension cannot be less than €10,513.61 gross per year, or €876.13 gross per month
  • 2e case: you are retiring before age 67 by having the number of quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension but not all of those quarters are paid into it.
    • If you have less than 120 quarters contributed, the amount of your pension may not be less than €8,796.38 gross per year, or €733.03 gross per month
    • If you have more than 120 quarters contributed, the amount of €733.03 gross per month is increased based on the number of quarters you have contributed to your total quarters

    For example, if you were born in 1962 and retire before the age of 67 with the 169 quarters required to qualify for a full-rate pension but only 135 quarters contributed, your pension amount cannot be less than €733.03 + [(€876.13 - €733.03) x 135 / 169] = €847.34 gross per month
  • 3e case: you are retiring at age 67 without having the required number of quarters to be entitled to a full rate pension before age 67, the amount of €733.03 gross per month is reduced according to your number of quarters compared to the number of quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension before age 67
    For example, if you were born in 1962 and retire at the age of 67 with only 140 quarters, the amount of your pension cannot be less than €733.03 x 140 / 169 = €607.24 gross per month

The payment of the minimum contribution may not result in the total of your retirement pensions exceeding €1,367.51 gross per month.

In the event of an overrun, the minimum contribution shall be reduced so that this amount is not exceeded.

The amount of your retirement pension paid by Pension Insurance cannot exceed 50% of the applicable social security ceiling the year you retired.

So if you retire in 2024, your retirement can't exceed €1,932.00 gross per month.

However, you can exceed this maximum amount if you have a overvaluation.

Your retirement pension is subject, unless exempted, to the following contributions:

Your retirement pension is increased to 1er January of each year on the basis of average of the development of non-tobacco consumer prices.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • For further information

    Pension insurance - 39 60

    To inform you about your situation, ask a question about your file, access personal information (follow-up of the file, latest payments, etc.).

    By telephone

     39,60 (or 09 71 10 39 60 from a mobile, a box or the foreigner)

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