For all persons insured in the private and public sector
The old-age pension is granted by e-EFKA upon fulfillment of the time and age conditions set out by law.
General retirement conditions:
a) Minimum insurance period of 15 years and completion of the 67th year of age to receive full pension and the 62nd year of age to receive reduced pension. In the case of a reduced pension, there must be a recent insurance connection.
b) Completion of 40 years of insurance (12 000) days and 62 years of age.
c) For those subject to the Regulation on Heavy and Unhealthy Occupations, the completion of the 62nd year of age and 4 500 days of employment, in total, is required, and the special conditions for insurance time set out in the KBAE, as well as the conditions for insurance connection depending on the date of inclusion in the insurance and the affiliation body, must be met.
For persons insured by 31 December 1992, in addition to the above general conditions, the special conditions of old-age retirement shall also apply. These differ depending on the affiliated institution or the State body.
Pension amount
The old age pension is calculated in accordance with Articles 7, 8 and 28 of Law 4387/2016, as in force, and consists of:
a) the national pension
The national pension is not financed by insurance contributions, but directly from the State budget and is granted to those who establish a pension right in accordance with the relevant provisions. The full amount is set at EUR 384 per month and is paid in full if at least 20 years of insurance and an additional 40 years of residence in Greece have been completed.
b) the compensatory pension
It is calculated on the basis of the pensionable earnings of the insured, i.e. the earnings on which insurance contributions have been paid during their working life and in particular from the year 2002 until the beginning of the payment of the pension, their insurance time and the applicable substitution percentages.
Beneficiaries:
Upon death of a pensioner or insured person who has completed the insurance period set out in each case, the beneficiaries of the pension are the surviving spouse/member of a cohabitation agreement, the legal children and the divorced spouse who meet the conditions set by law (Article 12 of Law 4387/2016, as in force)
Beneficiaries’ pension rates:
a) Surviving spouse/member of cohabitation agreement
70% of the eligible pension of the deceased for the first 3 years after death. This percentage continues to be granted even after the first 3 years if the surviving beneficiary does not work or does not receive a pension. If the beneficiary works or receives a pension, the death pension rate after the first 3 years amounts to 50% of the full amount of the death pension.
b) Protected children
Unmarried children receive a death pension until the age of 24 years. Unmarried children incapable of any livelihood work whose incapacity occurred before the completion of the 24th year of age continue to receive the death pension also after the completion of the 24th year of age.
The amount to which each child is entitled amounts to 25% of the death pension. For more than one child, the amount is divided equally. In the case of a child who has lost both parents, and who is entitled to a pension from both parents, they shall receive 50% of the pensions to which both parents would be entitled.
Orphans with severe disabilities which have occurred before the age of 24 years are entitled to all the pension that the deceased actually received or would have been entitled to receive, provided that they do not work or do not receive a pension from their own work.
c) Divorced spouse
Divorced spouses are entitled to a percentage of the deceased’s pension, if they meet the cumulative conditions set out by Law [Article 12(A)(C) of Law 4387/2016).
Expiration of the entitlement to a death pension
The entitlement ends upon death of the beneficiary or upon marriage and, in the case of children, upon completion of the 24th year of age.
e-EFKA grants its pensioners a pension:
a) Due to disability from a disease to insured persons in the private sector, if they meet the legal requirements of the institutions included in the e-EFKA.
b) Due to disability due to an accident at work or an occupational disease to insured persons in the private sector with a minimum insurance period of 1 day and a minimum pension amount of twice the amount of the national pension for 20 years of insurance, i.e. EUR 768 [Article 31(2) of Law 4387/2016).
c) Due to dismissal for physical or mental disability which is not due to the Service to civilian or military employees of the Public Sector who have at least 5 years of actual pensionable service (Articles 1 and 26 of Presidential Decree 169/2007).
d) Based on the illnesses listed in Law 612/1977 and the provisions that refer to it, the establishment of a pension entitlement requires the completion of 15 years of insurance or 4 050 days of employment in the case of salaried employees, while the amount of the pension is calculated for 35 years of insurance (or 10 500 days of employment).
Incapacity is certified by the competent health committees in accordance with the provisions in force from time to time.
Applications for disability pensions must be submitted electronically, upon identification, on the website of the Electronic National Social Security Agency (e-EFKA) [Article 17(1) of Law 4670/2020, Government Gazette, Series I, No 43).
Parallel insurance
Parallel insurance exists when an insured person was insured until 31 January 2016 in more than one insurance institutions either due to their capacity or because they exercised more than one activity at the same time and was paying the insurance contributions required by each institution.
For the persons insured with parallel insurance who have retired as of 1 January 2017 onwards, an increase is provided in accordance with the provisions of Article 36a of Law 4387/2016 for the parallel time that is not taken into account for the granting of national and compensatory pension.
Parallel employment
For persons insured at e-EFKA as of 1 January 2017 onwards, even if they carry out more than one professional activity, the insurance period taken into account for the granting of the national and compensatory pension in accordance with the provisions of Article 36A of :aw 4387/2016, shall be considered to be single.
Successive insurance
Insured persons who, during their working life, have been insured successively in more than one institution that was included in e-EFKA may request to retire based on the provisions of Article 19 of Law 4387/2016 as in force.
This legal framework sets out the procedure for finding pension conditions among the institutions involved (i.e. the ‘competent’ institution on the conditions of which the pension will be granted). In order to determine the last institution as the ‘competent one’, the person insured must have completed 1 000 days of insurance, of which 300 must be in the last 5 years before the termination of their insurance or before the application for retirement.
If they do not meet the above conditions, the retirement application is examined under the conditions of the previous institution in which they had completed the most insurance days. Once the ‘competent institution’ has been identified, all successive insurance periods will be taken into account in determining the total insurance periods. The method of calculating the pension is the same as the one applicable to persons insured in a single institution, i.e. the pension is calculated pursuant to Articles 7, 8 and 28 (and Article 99 for the ex OGA) of Law 4387/2016, as in force, and consists of a national pension part and a compensatory pension part (Article 19 of Law 4387/2016)
Persons insured may receive a pension from e-EFKA even if they have debts of a certain amount from the non-payment of insurance contributions to the institutions to which they were insured due to work or employment. The amount of debts varies by institution.
The amount of debts that can be repaid through the pension is withheld in up to 60 monthly instalments with a minimum instalment amount of EUR 50.
[Legislation: Article 61 of Law 3863/2010, as in force, Article 40 of Law 4611/2019 – standing regulation, Articles 1-18 of Law 4611/2019 – transitional provisions, debts and retirement with successive insurance Ministerial Decision Φ.1500/οικ.9696/195/08.08.2014 (Government Gazette, Series II, No 2441), Article 6(2) of Presidential Decree 258/1983 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 95, Article 68 of Law 4144/2013)]
