The old age pension

Prerequisites for getting the old-age pension are age and the pension qualification period required for the old-age pension.

Starting from January 1st, 2017, the pensionable age will gradually increase, reaching 65 years of age by 2026. The old-age pension age increases in correlation with the year of birth. To receive the old-age pension, you must have at least 15 years of Estonian pension qualifying period.

The old-age pension consists of three parts

The main or basic part
The pensionable service period component, which is calculated for employment until 31 December 1998
The insurance component– the personally calculated additional payment

The amount of the pensionable service period component depends on the length of employment, or the working years of the pensioner. Additional pension is calculated for the years deemed equal to employment, e.g. raising of children, compulsory military, studies at a university or vocational education institution, but also for the time the employee was temporarily incapable for work. The specific list is available in the State Pension Insurance Act.

The amount of the insurance component depends on how much social tax has been paid on the salary of the pensioner since 1 January 1999. The amount of the insurance component is calculated on the basis of the sum of annual factors of pension insurance. An annual factor shows the ratio of the social tax paid on the person’s salary during the calendar year to the social tax paid on the average salary of the state. If social tax is paid on the average salary, the annual factor is 1.0.

Pension age depending on the year of birth

To be entitled to receive the old-age pension, a person must be of the following age, depending on their year of birth:

Women		men
Year of birth	Age	Year of birth	Age
1944	58 years, 6 month	Born in 1938 later	63 years
1945	59 years
1946	59 years, 6 month
1947	60 y
1948	60 y, 6 m
1949	61 y
1950	61 y, 6 m
1951	62 y
1952	62 y, 6 m
1953	63 y
1954	63 y, 3 m	1954	63 y, 3 m
1955	63 y, 6 m	1955	63 y, 6 m
1956	63 y, 9 m	1956	63 y, 9 m
1957	64 y	1957	64 y
1958	64 y, 3 m	1958	64 y, 3 m
1959	64 y, 6 m	1959	64 y, 6 m
1960	64 y, 9 m	1960	64 y, 9 m
1961	65 y	1961	65 y

By the year of birth 1953, the retirement ages of men and women have been raised to the same level, i.e. the retirement age of both women and men is 63 years.

For the persons who have been born since 1954, the retirement ages of men and women will rise together by three months for each year. For the men and women who were born in 1961, the retirement age will reach the age of 65.

There are two additional special cases for the old-age pension

Early old-age pension
Deferred old-age pension

A person is allowed to retire early, i.e. three years before the retirement age provided by the law. In such case, the amount of pension is decreased by 0.4% for each month retired early. The early old-age pension is established for life and it will not be recalculated later into old-age pension or old-age pension under favourable conditions. Early old-age pension is not paid to a person who works (except if the person has reached the general old-age pension age).

In case of the deferred pension, the pension is increased by 0.9% for each month by which the person defers applying for his or her pension.

The state pensions increase

The state pensions are increased in line with the increasing cost of living and receipt of the social tax (increase of the salary fund). Once a year, the pensions are multiplied by the index that depends 20% on the annual increase of the consumer price index (cost of living) and 80% of the annual increase of the pension insurance part of the received social tax.

The increased pension received as a result of the annual indexation will be paid from 1 April.