Pension

Pension insurance is intended to provide financial security for insured people and their dependents in old age, or after retirement due to illness.

Attention: Those who do not hold Austrian citizenship can only claim pension benefits if they have been insured in Austria for more than one year.

In the following sections, you will find information on

the various pension benefits in Austria;
the recognition of insurance periods completed in EU/EEA states and Switzerland;
the recognition of insurance periods completed in third countries.

There are two types of pensions in Austria:

Pensions are referred to as personal pensions if the pension benefits originate from a personal insurance relationship. The following pension benefits are relevant for artists and cultural workers:
- Old-age pension
- Retirement pension
- Early retirement pension due to a longer insurance term
- Pension due to ill health
- Continued work pension (only for self-employed individuals)
Surviving dependants' pensions are defined as pension benefits that do not originate from an individual insurance relationship, but from the insurance of a relative, and include:
- Widow's/widower's pension
- Pension for surviving registered partners
- Orphan's pension

Personal pensions begin on the reference date, which is regulated differently for the different types of pensions. An old-age pension begins on 1^st January in the year after you reach retirement age.

Survivors' pensions begin on the day after the death of the insured person. If the entitled person does not submit their application until 6 months after the death, the pension begins on the day the application is submitted.

Old-age pension in Austria

To be entitled to an old-age pension in Austria, you must meet the following requirements:

You must submit an application to your pension insurance provider.
- If you were employed, your pension insurance provider will either be the Pension Insurance Institution or the BVAEB.
- If you were self-employed, the SVS provides your pension insurance.
You must have reached the standard retirement age.
- This will still be different for women and men in Austria until 2033. Men retire at the age of 65. Women used to retire at the age of 60. However, their retirement age will be gradually increased until it reaches that of men. All women born after June 1968 will have to work until they are 65.
- You can retire at the age of 62 if you have been insured for 45 years, but this will have a negative impact on the pension you receive.
You must reach the minimum insurance periods.
- To be able to draw a pension in Austria, you must have been insured for at least 15 years. If you were covered by pension insurance abroad, these insurance periods will be recognised in Austria under certain conditions. See below for more information.
- You must have acquired at least 7 years of the minimum insurance period through your own employment. This is because in certain cases you are covered by pension insurance even though you are not gainfully employed. For example, if you receive unemployment or sickness benefits.
If you do not have Austrian citizenship, you must also have been insured in Austria for more than one year in order to be able to draw a pension in Austria.

The amount of pension you receive is calculated on the basis of the length of your pension insurance periods and the level of your insurance contributions.

If you have been covered by pension insurance for at least 25 years and at least 12 months thereof were before you turned 20, you will receive a financial bonus. Your pension will then increase by at least €1 and up to a maximum of €60 per month ("early starter bonus").

Insurance periods in other countries

As artists and cultural workers often work internationally, it is important for them to know whether the insurance periods they have acquired outside Austria are taken into account for their pension entitlement in Austria. This depends on the countries they have worked in.

As a first step, those people of foreign nationality must have been gainfully employed and covered by pension insurance in Austria for at least one full year.

As a second step, everyone must have been insured for a total of at least 15 years and have been insured for 7 years from their own employment. The insurance periods acquired in one country may or may not be taken into account in Austria. This is dependent upon the country in which the person had pension insurance.

Recognition depends on whether the periods of insurance were acquired

in an EU/EEA country or Switzerland;
in a third country with an agreement on the recognition of insurance periods;
in a third country without an agreement on the recognition of insurance periods.

As many people in Europe work across national borders, the EU/EEA and Switzerland have concluded an agreement under which they mutually recognise insurance periods across national borders.

Attention: The recognition of insurance periods does not depend on your nationality, but on the country in which you acquired the insurance periods.

Therefore, if you were covered by pension insurance within the EU/EEA or in Switzerland, these insurance periods will be taken into account when checking your pension entitlement in Austria as though you had acquired them in Austria.

If you have reached retirement age and wish to draw your old-age pension in Austria, you must prove that you have been insured for at least 15 years within the EU/EEA or Switzerland, 7 years of which were spent in your own gainful employment.

Example: To be able to draw an old-age pension in Austria, you must have been insured for at least 15 years. You have only worked in Austria for 8 years with compulsory insurance. However, you also worked in Italy for 15 years. As Austria recognises your Italian insurance period, your Austrian pension insurance provider considers you to have been insured for a total of 23 years. If you meet all other requirements (Austrian retirement age, application), you are entitled to an old-age pension in Austria.

To do: If you submit your pension application in Austria, you must state that you have also acquired insurance periods abroad.

If you have submitted your pension application and stated in it that you have also acquired insurance periods abroad, your Austrian insurance provider will initiate an "intergovernmental pension assessment procedure". Each country in which you were insured checks whether you have fulfilled the pension requirements according to their national rules. If you have fulfilled the requirements of the individual countries, each of these countries will pay you a pro rata pension.

As soon as you have reached the insurance periods under Austrian law, your Austrian pension insurance provider will pay you a partial pension. The pension is calculated as though you had acquired the foreign insurance periods in Austria (fictitious full pension). The sum of your Austrian partial pension is calculated according to the ratio of your Austrian insurance periods to your total—including foreign—insurance periods.

When calculating the amount of pension you will receive, the Austrian pension insurance provider only takes into account the pension contributions that you have paid in Austria.

Info: If you can fulfil the necessary pension requirements solely on the basis of your Austrian insurance periods, a pension will be calculated exclusively on the basis of domestic periods, unless the "pension calculation including periods abroad" leads to a better result.

If you were covered by pension insurance in a country outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland, Austria will only recognise your insurance periods if the countries have concluded an agreement on the mutual recognition of insurance periods (contracting states).

Example: You are 65 years old and have reached the Austrian retirement age in Austria and Turkey. You were insured and employed for 5 years in Austria and 25 years in Turkey. You would like to spend your retirement in Austria. You therefore register your main residence in Austria and submit your pension application to your pension insurance provider. As Turkey and Austria have concluded an agreement on the mutual recognition of pension insurance periods, you have fulfilled the minimum insurance period for a pension entitlement in Austria.

When calculating the amount of pension you will receive, the Austrian pension insurance provider only takes the pension contributions that you have paid in Austria into account.

If Austria has not concluded an agreement with the country in which you have acquired insurance periods, these insurance periods will not be considered by your Austrian pension insurance provider.

The following third countries (or states) have concluded an agreement with Austria on the consideration of insurance periods:

Albania

Australia

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Canada

Chile

India

Israel

Macedonia

Moldova

Montenegro

Philippines

Québec

Republic of Korea

Serbia

Tunisia

Turkey

Uruguay

USA

Minimum pension/compensatory allowance

If you have earned or worked very little during your working life, your pension will be correspondingly low. In these cases, your insurance provider will support you with a financial contribution (equalisation supplement) so that your pension reaches a certain minimum level (minimum pension).

You must meet the following requirements in order to receive the equalisation supplement:

You live in Austria;
Your monthly income does not reach the minimum pension. This is as follows in 2025:
- The minimum income for single people is €1,273.99.
- The joint minimum income of married couples/registered partners or cohabiting partners in a joint household is €2,009.85.

If you have worked for more than 30 years, your equalisation supplement is higher (pension bonus):

If you have worked for more than 30 years, the minimum pension for a single person is €1,386.20.
If you have worked for more than 40 years, the minimum pension for a single person is €1,656.05, and for married couples/registered partners/cohabiting partners it is €2,235.34 (as at 2025).

Attention: The equalisation supplement corresponds to a state social benefit. If you have additional income, this can therefore be offset by your pension insurance provider.

Pension

Old-age pension in Austria

Old-age pension in Austria

Insurance periods in other countries

Insurance periods in other countries

Minimum pension/compensatory allowance

Minimum pension/compensatory allowance

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