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Applying for the State Old-Age Pension in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

Who gets Portugal's state old-age pension, the pension age, the 15-year rule, how the amount is worked out, and how to apply to Segurança Social.

The Portugal Brief 8 min read

Applying for the State Old-Age Pension in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You worked and paid social security in Portugal and are close to pension age.
  • You worked partly in Portugal and partly in another EU country or an agreement country.
  • You want to know what your Portuguese pension will be and how to claim it.

Not for you if: you want to retire before the normal pension age. Read Claiming an Early Retirement Pension in Portugal instead.

The old-age pension (pensão de velhice) is the monthly state pension paid by Segurança Social, the social security service. You qualify at the normal pension age, which is 66 years and 9 months in 2026 and 66 years and 11 months in 2027. You also need at least 15 years with recorded contributions. They do not have to be in a row.

You apply online or at a counter, up to three months before you want the pension to start. Applying is free. In simple cases, Segurança Social decides in about 50 days on average.

Who qualifies

You need to meet two conditions on the date you apply.

1. Age. The normal pension age is 66 years and 9 months in 2026. It rises to 66 years and 11 months in 2027. It is linked to life expectancy at 65, so it is set again each year.

2. Contributions. You need at least 15 calendar years with recorded pay. This is called the qualifying period (prazo de garantia).

  • Since 1994, a year counts if you paid in for at least 120 days in it. Short years can be added together until they reach 120 days.
  • If you are in the voluntary social insurance scheme (seguro social voluntário), you need 144 months of contributions instead.
  • Older careers have shorter qualifying periods under past rules. Segurança Social applies these automatically.

Periods in other systems can count. Contributions to another social protection system that pays an old-age pension can be added to reach the 15 years. That includes the civil service scheme and foreign systems. You need at least one year in the Portuguese general scheme to do this.

If you have fewer than 15 years, you may get the social old-age pension (pensão social de velhice) instead. It is a small, means-tested pension. See the section on low pensions below.

Your personal pension age

If you have more than 40 years of contributions, you can retire earlier with no cut. For each year above 40, your pension age falls by four months. This is your personal pension age (idade pessoal de reforma). You must be at least 60.

Years of contributionsPersonal pension age in 2026
Under 4066 years and 9 months
4166 years and 5 months
4266 years and 1 month
4365 years and 9 months
4465 years and 5 months
4565 years and 1 month
4664 years and 9 months

Retiring before your personal pension age is early retirement, with a permanent cut in most cases. The early retirement guide explains the routes and the cuts.

How much you get

Segurança Social works out your pension with a simple formula: your reference pay multiplied by an overall rate.

Reference pay (remuneração de referência). This is your average recorded monthly pay, updated for inflation.

  • If you joined Segurança Social from 1 January 2002, it is the average of all your years of pay, up to your best 40 years.
  • If you joined before 2002, Segurança Social runs two calculations. One uses your best 10 of your last 15 years. The other uses your whole career. Your pension is a weighted mix of the two, based on how many years you had before and after 2002.

Overall rate. Each year of contributions earns a percentage of your reference pay.

  • With 20 years or fewer, each year earns 2%.
  • With 21 years or more, each year earns between 2% and 2.3%. Lower pay earns the higher rate.

Example. You joined after 2002, have 30 years, and a reference pay of €1,000 a month. The first €590.84 earns 2.3% a year and the rest earns 2.25%. Your pension is about €684 a month before tax. Use the official simulator for your own figure.

Fourteen payments a year. You get your monthly pension 12 times, plus an extra payment in July and another in December.

Working longer raises your pension

If you start your pension after your personal pension age, you get a bonus for each extra month, up to age 70. The monthly bonus depends on your career:

Years of contributionsBonus per extra month
15 to 240.33%
25 to 340.5%
35 to 390.65%
Over 401%

Only months with recorded pay count. Months on unemployment or sickness benefit do not.

The sustainability factor

The sustainability factor (fator de sustentabilidade) is a cut linked to life expectancy. In 2026 it reduces a pension by 17.63%. It does not apply if you retire at the normal pension age or later. It applies only to some early pensions. The value for 2027 had not been published when we checked.

The minimum pension

If your calculated pension is low, Segurança Social tops it up to a minimum. The 2026 minimums are:

Years of contributionsMinimum per month (2026)
Under 15€341.08
15 to 20€357.80
21 to 30€394.82
31 or more€493.52

If you retire early under the flexible early retirement route, the minimum is not guaranteed.

If your total income is still very low, you may qualify for the solidarity supplement for older people. See Claiming the Elderly Solidarity Supplement (CSI) in Portugal.

How to apply

  1. Check your record. Log in to Segurança Social Direta, the online portal at seg-social.pt. Open your contribution record (carreira contributiva) and check every year. Ask your former employer to fix any gaps while it can still confirm them.
  2. Run the simulator. On the portal, go to Simuladores and the pension simulator. Try more than one start date. The result is only a guide.
  3. Choose your start date. You can apply up to three months before the date you want the pension to start. If you apply without a future date, the pension starts from the date you apply.
  4. Apply. Online, go to Trabalho, then Reforma e invalidez, then Pensão de Velhice. In person, go to any Segurança Social office, including the National Pensions Centre (Centro Nacional de Pensões). On paper, use form RP 5068.
  5. Declare other pensions. If you already get a pension from anywhere, use form RP 5080.
  6. List foreign periods. If you worked abroad, also fill in forms RP 5071 and RP 5081 (see below).
  7. Follow your claim. The portal shows the documents you sent and the status of your request.

Documents to have ready:

  • A valid identity document, such as your citizen card, passport, or residence permit.
  • Your tax number (NIF), if you have no citizen card.
  • A bank document showing your IBAN in your own name, if you want payment by bank transfer.
  • Proof of your address in Portugal, if you are a foreign national.
  • Proof of compulsory military service, if it is not already on your record.

Same-day provisional pension. Online claims can be dealt with on the day, with a provisional pension straight away. You need 15 or more years with Segurança Social, no special early retirement case, no unpaid self-employed contributions, and a Portuguese address or a registered IBAN. This is called Pensão na Hora.

How long it takes. There is no fixed legal deadline. Simple cases take about 50 days on average. Online claims are processed faster.

If you were a civil servant. If you paid into both the civil service scheme (Caixa Geral de Aposentações) and Segurança Social, you can ask for a single unified pension. Tick that option on the claim. You need at least 60 months in the scheme that pays it.

If you worked in other countries

EU, EEA, Swiss, and UK periods. Your years in those countries count towards the 15 years. Each country then pays its own share, so you may get several pensions. If you live in Portugal, you usually make one claim through Segurança Social, even for the foreign pensions. Apply at least six months before you want the pension to start.

Agreement countries. Portugal has social security agreements with countries such as the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Cabo Verde. Years there can also count.

Living abroad. If you live in another country with an agreement with Portugal, claim through that country's social security body. If there is no agreement, claim from the National Pensions Centre.

See How Your Years Working Abroad Count toward a Pension in Portugal.

Getting paid

You can be paid by bank transfer, by postal order (vale postal) to your address, or by cheque if you live abroad. You can register or change your IBAN on the portal under Perfil, then Conta bancária.

Tax. Your pension is taxed as pension income through personal income tax (IRS). Segurança Social withholds tax each month. If you get more than one pension, they are added together to set the rate. You then file a return each year. See Filing Your IRS Tax Return in Portugal.

Yearly update. Pensions are updated each January by law.

Working after you retire

You can keep working while you get an old-age pension. If you work as an employee, you pay a lower contribution rate of 7.5%, and your employer pays 16.4%. Those contributions add a small amount to your pension each year, paid automatically.

There is one exception. If your old-age pension replaced an absolute disability pension, you cannot work.

Things to tell Segurança Social within 30 days:

  • that you start getting another pension, and how much it is;
  • that another pension ends or changes.

Fines for failing to report run from €50 to €350, and can double if you were overpaid.

Common problems

Gaps in your record. Missing years lower your pension. Check your record every year, not just before you retire.

Applying too early. You can apply only up to three months before your chosen start date.

A bank account in someone else's name. The IBAN proof must show you as an account holder.

Not declaring a foreign pension. You must tell Segurança Social about every pension you get. False or missing information can lead to fines and repayments.

Expecting the minimum after early retirement. The minimum pension does not apply to flexible early pensions.

Contacts

  • Segurança Social line: 210 545 400 or 300 502 502, working days, 09:00 to 18:00.
  • Appointments line: 210 548 888 or 300 088 888.
  • Online: seg-social.pt (Segurança Social Direta).

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change often; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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