German retirement age
The standard retirement age is 67. It does not yet apply in full to anyone born before 1964: § 235 Abs. 2 SGB VI raises it cohort by cohort, and the table that governs is printed in the statute itself rather than derived from a rule of thumb.
The standard retirement age
§ 35 Satz 2 puts it in one sentence: the standard retirement age is reached at 67 years. For everyone born from 1964 that is simply the rule, with no transition. For everyone born before, it does not yet apply in full — § 235 Abs. 2 raises it cohort by cohort, and the table that does so is in the statute itself.
| Born | Age limit |
|---|---|
| before 1 January 1947(the row before the table) | 65 years |
| 1947 | 65 years and 1 month |
| 1948 | 65 years and 2 months |
| 1949 | 65 years and 3 months |
| 1950 | 65 years and 4 months |
| 1951 | 65 years and 5 months |
| 1952 | 65 years and 6 months |
| 1953 | 65 years and 7 months |
| 1954 | 65 years and 8 months |
| 1955 | 65 years and 9 months |
| 1956 | 65 years and 10 months |
| 1957 | 65 years and 11 months |
| 1958 | 66 years |
| 1959 | 66 years and 2 months |
| 1960 | 66 years and 4 months |
| 1961 | 66 years and 6 months |
| 1962 | 66 years and 8 months |
| 1963 | 66 years and 10 months |
| from 1 January 1964(the statute’s flat age limit) | 67 years |
The first row is not in the table — it is § 235 Abs. 2 Satz 1: anyone born before 1 January 1947 reaches the standard retirement age at 65. Nor is the last row: from the 1964 cohort the table simply ends and § 35 Satz 2’s flat limit governs. Note the step change at 1959 — one month per cohort up to it, two months after.
The step change at the 1959 cohort
The rise is not even. Up to the 1958 cohort the age climbs one month per birth year; from 1959 it climbs two. Anyone born in the second half of the table therefore loses twice as much time per cohort as someone from the first — the gap to the neighbouring cohort is not a rounding artefact.
The table ends at the 1963 cohort. It is not extended: from 1964 the general rule of § 35 Satz 2 resumes. There is no 1964 row, and we do not invent one.
Two groups the rise never touched
§ 235 Abs. 2 Satz 3 exempts two groups from the increase entirely. Anyone born before 1 January 1955 who agreed partial retirement (Altersteilzeitarbeit) before 1 January 2007 keeps the old age limit, and so does a dismissed mining worker who drew Anpassungsgeld. That carve-out cannot be rendered as a table row — it hangs on an agreement rather than on a date of birth — which is why it is stated here in prose.
The qualifying period is the other half
The age limit is only half the entitlement. § 50 Abs. 1 additionally requires 60 qualifying months (5 years), and § 51 Abs. 1 counts only calendar months carrying contributions towards it. If you want to draw earlier, the conditions are on retiring before 67.