Early retirement: 7,356 workers go to Luxembourg in 2024

Almost no worker buys his insurance periods to be able to retire early. The percentage of these new pensioners in 2024 is “negligible”, said Martine Deprez, the Minister of Health and Social Security, to the deputy Déi Lenk Marc Baum. The minister’s response to the parliamentary question paints a portrait of the 7,356 workers who retired early in 2024.

The legal retirement age in Luxembourg is 65 years, but it is possible to leave earlier by justifying at least 480 months (40 years) of compulsory insurance. In 2024, the average age at the time of early departure was 60.2 years. 30.6 % of these young pensioners were between 57 and 59 years old and 69.4 % between 60 and 64 years. Men represented 65% of the total. The overwhelming majority, 70.9%, of departures concerned workers who managed to total their 480 months of compulsory insurance period.

Conversely, 29.1% of young retirees had to have their years of study play, the time spent taking care of their young children or a disability pension to reach the duration of the 480 months. In 68.1 % of cases, these early pensions are “migratory”, that is to say that the beneficiary, during his professional career, accumulated insurance periods in Luxembourg and abroad.

Anticipated departures constitute the bulk of departures. By combining these departures with old age pensions allocated at the age of 65 or beyond, the total number of retirements of the general regime in 2024 amounted to 9,655.