The German state pension
When you can draw a German state pension, what qualifying period each route demands, and how pension points become a monthly amount — under the Sixth Book of the Social Code as in force.
Four old-age pensions, not one
The German Social Code provides four separate old-age pensions. The ordinary one is the Regelaltersrente under § 35, which opens at 67 years. Beside it stand three more: the pension for the long-insured (§ 36), the one for the very-long-insured (§ 38), and the one for people with a recognised severe disability (§ 37). Each has its own age limit and its own qualifying period — and only two of them carry a reduction at all.
The general qualifying period
Age alone is never enough. For the ordinary pension § 50 Abs. 1 requires the general qualifying period of 60 qualifying months — 5 years. It is the shortest of the four in § 50, and under § 51 Abs. 1 only calendar months carrying contributions count towards it. The longer periods of 35 years and 45 years belong to the individual routes, not here.
Where to go from here
- Retirement age — the standard age and the § 235 Abs. 2 transition table.
- Retiring before 67 — the three routes ahead of the standard age, and what each costs.
- Pension points — how a year of work becomes a ratio.
- Working out the amount — the § 64 formula, computed with your own points.
What these pages do not do
They do not check whether you meet a qualifying period — that would mean knowing your insurance record. They cover neither reduced-earning-capacity pensions nor survivors’ pensions. And they do not cover Grundsicherung im Alter under SGB XII: that is a separate, means-tested payment on different conditions, not a floor under the pension. SGB VI guarantees no minimum pension.