Pension points explained: from your salary to a German pension
Every year you pay into the German system leaves a figure with four decimals on your pension account. Here is how it is worked out and what it will pay, with your own salary.
Worked through by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Your pay in pension points
Pension points for 2026
0.8663
| Monthly pension from this year | €36.84 |
| Over 20 years of retirement | €8,841 |
| Employee contribution a year | €4,185 |
German statutory pensions are counted in pension points (Entgeltpunkte). For each calendar year the pension insurer divides your gross pay subject to contributions by the average earnings of all insured people (Durchschnittsentgelt); earn exactly the average and you get one point (section 70 SGB VI). For 2026 the provisional average is €51,944. Pay above the contribution ceiling (Beitragsbemessungsgrenze) of €101,400 a year does not count, so one year yields at most 1.9521 points. Since 1 July 2026 one point is worth €42.52 of monthly pension; until June it was €40.79. On a salary of €45,000 you collect 0.8663 points in 2026, or €36.84 a month from that one year. The pension is the sum of your points multiplied by the access factor, the pension type factor and the current pension value (section 64). Points stay on your German account if you move away; whether you later get a pension or a refund depends on the five-year qualifying period.
The sum behind one point
The German pension insurer values each calendar year on its own. Your gross pay subject to contributions is divided by the average earnings for the same year (section 70 SGB VI). For 2026 the provisional figure is €51,944 (social insurance reference values 2026). A year at exactly that pay gives 1.0000 points, half of it 0.5000. The contribution ceiling of €8,450 a month caps everything: above it you pay no pension contributions and earn no points.
| Gross pay a year | Points for 2026 | Monthly pension from that year | Your contribution share |
|---|---|---|---|
| €24,000 | 0.4620 | €19.65 | €2,232 |
| €36,000 | 0.6931 | €29.47 | €3,348 |
| €51,944 | 1.0000 | €42.52 | €4,831 |
| €75,000 | 1.4439 | €61.39 | €6,975 |
| €120,000 | 1.9521 | €83.00 | €9,430 |
The last row shows the cap: €120,000 earns no more than €101,400, namely 1.9521 points. The 18.6 % contribution rate is split equally between you and your employer, which is why the right-hand column shows only half.
Why the same salary counts for less over time
Average earnings rise with wages. The final figure for 2024 is €47,085; €45,000 earned 0.9557 points that year, but in 2026 the same salary earns only 0.8663. If your pay stays flat for years, you slip relative to the average and collect slightly fewer points each year. On the other side, every point you already hold gains value whenever the pension value rises on 1 July; the latest increase is covered on pension value 2026.
For the current year the insurer works with the provisional value. The mini calculator above and the German pension calculator do the same, in today’s values, with no future pay rises or pension increases.
From points to a monthly pension
The pension formula multiplies four figures (section 64 SGB VI): your total points, the access factor (Zugangsfaktor), the pension type factor (Rentenartfaktor) and the current pension value (aktueller Rentenwert). The access factor is 1.0 if you start at the standard retirement age and falls by 0.3 % for each month earlier. The pension type factor depends on the kind of pension (section 67). Take an account holding 40 points:
| Pension from 40 points | Access factor | Type factor | Gross monthly pension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard old-age pension | 1.000 | 1.00 | €1,700.80 |
| Old-age pension at 63, born 1964 | 0.856 | 1.00 | €1,455.88 |
| Large widow’s pension from this account | 1.000 | 0.55 | €935.44 |
| Partial disability pension | 1.000 | 0.50 | €850.40 |
The survivor row is simplified: a widow or widower receives a share of the deceased’s points, and their own income may then be partly offset. A disability pension also adds points for the added period up to a set age; the disability pension calculator handles that.
Points without pay: raising children
For a child’s first years, one parent is credited as if they had earned the average: 0.0833 points per month (section 56 SGB VI). Children born from 1992 bring 36 months, 3.00 points or €127.51 of monthly pension. For earlier children it is 30 months (section 249), 2.50 points and €106.26. If you also work in those years, points from your pay are added on top, up to the ceiling. What this means for mothers’ retirement dates is on retirement age for women.
Part-time work and gaps, counted in points
A part-time job at €18,000 a year earns 0.3465 points, €14.73 of monthly pension per year. Ten such years add €147.34, ten years at average pay €425.20. The difference lasts for life. Your points so far appear on your annual statement; reading your pension statement shows where.
Projecting forward
Someone holding 22 points who works another 14 years on €45,000 reaches 34.13 points and €1,451.14 of gross monthly pension in today’s values. That projection ignores pay rises and pension increases; the two partly cancel out, since higher wages also lift average earnings. The pension calculator runs it with your figures, and the pension gap calculator sets it against what you will need.
Buying points, and earning more after you retire
One point costs €9,661.58 to buy in 2026: the full contribution rate applied to average earnings (section 187 SGB VI). In practice this is done as a payment to offset a planned reduction; see buying out pension reductions. And if you keep working in employment while drawing an old-age pension and contributions are paid, you earn further points; they are added each 1 July of the following year (section 66(3a) SGB VI). More under working while drawing a pension.
If you leave Germany
Your points stay on your German account after you move. With five qualifying years, counting EU, EEA and Swiss periods, they turn into a German pension paid to you abroad; with fewer, a refund of your contribution share can be possible in certain cases. The details, and the mini calculator comparing both, are on German pension abroad.