At a time when the evolution of the Luxembourg pension system is debated, the annual report of the National Pension Insurance Fund (CNAP) highlights the country’s social reality in this area.
In recent years, the vast majority of workers retired before the legal age of 65. In 2024, 11,980 workers opted for an early retirement, against only 4,512 departures after 65 years, according to the CNAP report. In other words, 74% of workers ended their professional life and began to perceive a pension in an early manner. Last year, the average age of early retirement was 60.2 years at the time of the granting of the pension.
More than half of Luxembourg pensions are paid abroad
Since at least 2020, this early retirement trend has accentuated, digging the gap between the two types of retirement. That year, there were 8,175 requests for early retirement against 2,994 at the legal age of 65.
The growing weight of early retirement in Luxembourg is one of the arguments put forward by the government to justify its desire to increase contributions and the duration of career. It is also one of the points that aroused the most controversy.
Prime Minister Luc Frieden and the Minister of Social Security Martine Deprez stressed that the Grand Duchy is the country of the European Union where workers are retired as soon as possible. They therefore consider it necessary to expand the duration of subscription and to guarantee the sustainability of the pension fund. This is one of the proposals currently on the table as part of the negotiations between the executive and the social partners.
Early retirement without loss of rights
In Luxembourg, an employee can retire in an early manner, without loss of rights, under two conditions: from 57 years, if he justifies 40 years of compulsory insurance periods, or from 60 years, if he totals 40 years of contributory career, including periods of compulsory insurance, voluntary insurance, retroactive purchases and additional periods.
“Working up to 65 or 67 can be inhuman”
Retirement from the age of 65 is granted if the insured has a contributory career of “at least 10 years of compulsory insurance periods, voluntary insurance periods or retroactive periods”.
On the other hand, the CNAP recalls that to obtain a pension, whether at the age of 65 or before, it is first necessary to submit a request to this institute, followed by a “presidential decision of granting or rejection, likely to appeal”.
As for requests for processing requests, they are “very variable and depend on the cooperation of international organizations”, especially in the cases of mixed careers.
Nearly 2,000 requests rejected
Among the 11,980 early retirement requests recorded in 2024, some are still under processing. Of the 10,622 requests which have already been the subject of a decision, 8,830 were accepted and 1,792 rejected.
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The CNAP report stresses that in December of last year, the organization paid 233,286 pensions to retirees, for a total amount of 6.8 billion euros, the highest amount ever reached. In the space of five years, the number of pensions paid increased by 16.46 %.
This article was initially published on the site of Contact.
It was translated using artificial intelligence tools that learn from data from human translations, then checked by Sandra Lochon.
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