The retirement age will, in 2026, rise by two months compared to what was in force. Anyone who retires before this age faces a penalty of 16.9%, plus a 0.5% cut for each month in advance.
The legal retirement age will increase to 66 years and nine months in 2026, according to an ordinance published this Monday. It’s the confirmhereo dthe estimated values based on average life expectancy data released by the .
These 66 years and nine months correspond to a two month climb compared to the normal retirement age from January 2025. In practice, this means that workers who are not covered by the regime for very long contributory careers nor by the flexible retirement age regime applicable to those who at 60 years of age complete 40 years of discounts, will have a penalty if they choose to retire before aged 66 years and nine months age.
A normal age for accessing the old-age pension varies depending on the average life expectancy at age 65 age, an indicator published by the National Statistics Institute. It was based on these data that the normal retirement age was set at 66 years and seven months in 2025 and has now been set at 66 years and nine months for those retiring in 2026.
Penalties for those who retire early
The diploma now released also confirms that anyone who retires early in 2025 will have a penalty, via the sustainability factor, of 16.9%, to which is added a cut of 0.5% for each month of advance payment compared to the normal age of access.
“The sustainability factor to be applied to the statutory value of pensions based on age of the general social security regime starting in 2025 is 0.8307”, says the diploma, a value that results in the aforementioned 16.9%. That 16.9% compares to the 15.8% cut applied to those who retired early in 2024.
The pension system currently in force, however, includes several situations in which the sustainability factor cut is not appliedeven if the person accesses the pension before the normal age. In this case, they ares people who, while they are 60 years old, complete 40 years of a contributory careerand in this situation a fine of 0.5% is applied to them for each month of anticipation.
Already who meets the conditions foreseen under the regime of very long contributory careers — where are the workers aged 60 or over and have contributed 46 years or more and started working before the age of 16 — they can rgraduate without any penalty.
