The July 2026 pension increase: Germany’s new pension value
Each pension point has paid €1.73 more a month since July. See what that means for your amount, and what is left after contributions and tax, including if you live abroad.
Worked through by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Your pension after the July 2026 increase
From July 2026
€1,563.62
| More a month | €63.62 |
| Pension points behind it | 36.77 |
| More until June 2027 | €763 |
On 1 July 2026 German statutory pensions rose by 4.24 %. The current pension value (aktueller Rentenwert), the monthly amount paid per pension point, has been €42.52 since then; until June it was €40.79, as approved by the federal cabinet on 29 April 2026. Because every pension is calculated as points times pension value (section 64 SGB VI), every pension in payment, whether old-age, disability or survivor’s, rises in the same proportion without any application. €1,000 becomes €1,042.41; €1,500 becomes €1,563.62. Health and long-term care contributions come off the increase, 12.35 % in the standard case. For anyone who retired before 2025 the full increase is taxable, because their tax-free share was frozen as a fixed euro amount. Allowances tied to the pension value grow too: the income allowance on a widow’s pension went from €1,076.86 to €1,122.53. Pensioners living elsewhere in the EU receive the same increase.
What changed on 1 July 2026
One number changed: the current pension value, from €40.79 to €42.52 (German Pension Insurance key values; cabinet decision of 29 April 2026). It states how much monthly pension one point (Entgeltpunkt) pays. Since the formula builds every pension from points, access factor, pension type factor and pension value (section 64 SGB VI), the new figure lifts all pensions in payment equally: 4.24 % more, with any reduction or survivor factor kept in proportion. No application is needed. How points are earned in the first place is explained under pension points explained.
| Pension until June 2026 | Pension from July 2026 | More a month | More until June 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| €900.00 | €938.17 | €38.17 | €458.05 |
| €1,200.00 | €1,250.89 | €50.89 | €610.74 |
| €1,500.00 | €1,563.62 | €63.62 | €763.42 |
| €2,000.00 | €2,084.82 | €84.82 | €1,017.90 |
| €2,500.00 | €2,606.03 | €106.03 | €1,272.37 |
The table applies the exact ratio between the two values, 1.0424. If your pension carries an early-retirement reduction, the same percentage is added to the reduced amount; the reduction itself neither grows nor shrinks.
What reaches you net
The increase is pension like any other, so the same contributions apply. With the average extra rate (Zusatzbeitrag) and children, you pay 8.75 % for health insurance and 3.6 % for long-term care, 12.35 % together. Of the €63.62 extra on €1,500, €55.76 remains before tax. Without children, care costs 0.6 % more. The net pension calculator works out your exact net amount after the increase.
Tax takes a share of older pensions’ increases
If you retired in 2020, nominally 80 % of your pension is taxable. In practice it is more, because the tax-free part was frozen as a fixed euro amount the following year (section 22 EStG). Every increase since then, July 2026 included, adds only to the taxable part. On €1,500 that part grows by €763.42 a year. On its own that need not trigger tax, but combined with an occupational pension or rental income it can push you over the threshold. The pension insurer does not withhold income tax; it is assessed through your return. The rates by start year are on taxation of German pensions.
What else the new value moves
On a widow’s or widower’s pension, the allowance for the survivor’s own income is tied to the pension value: 26.4 times the value, plus 5.6 times for each child entitled to an orphan’s pension (section 97 SGB VI).
| Widow’s pension allowance | Until June 2026 | From July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| No child | €1,076.86 | €1,122.53 |
| One child entitled to an orphan’s pension | €1,305.28 | €1,360.64 |
A survivor with income of their own gains twice: the widow’s pension rises by 4.24 %, and less income is offset. Widow’s pension income test shows the effect with your figures.
Child-raising credits are points too. Three years for a child born from 1992, 3.00 points, now pay €127.51 a month instead of €122.32. If you plan to offset an early-retirement reduction with a special payment, one point costs €9,661.58 in 2026; that price follows average earnings, not the pension value. With the higher value, a bought point pays for itself after 18.9 years of pension instead of 19.7, before tax and contributions.
July is also when new points arrive
If you work in employment alongside an old-age pension and contributions are paid, the points from that work are added to your pension each 1 July of the following year (section 66(3a) SGB VI). So two increases land in July: the general adjustment and your personal top-up from the previous year. See working while drawing a pension.
Statements and notices with the old value
Letters from the pension insurer dated in the first half of 2026 still use €40.79. Their figures are not wrong, just out of date: scale them up by 1.0424, or divide by the old value to get your points. The layout of the letter is explained in reading your pension statement.
Within the EU, the same pension wherever you live
Under Regulation 883/2004, a German pension may not be reduced because you live in another EU or EEA state or in Switzerland. The July increase therefore reaches a retiree in Lisbon exactly as it reaches one in Leipzig. Outside that area, payment rules depend on the country and on any social security agreement; German pension abroad covers what can be said in general.
What the reform debate means for future increases
In its report of 23 June 2026 the pension commission proposed keeping the 48 % floor on the benefit level until 2031 and then letting the sustainability factor (Nachhaltigkeitsfaktor) work again (Federal Labour Ministry, 33 recommendations). That is a proposal for increases after 2031, not law in force, and no draft bill exists. It yields no figure for July 2027. The state of play is on pension reform.