Retirement age is once again at the center of many workers’ accounts. In Portugal, anyone who is just a few years away from leaving active life has to look not only at their age, but also at their contributory career, because the number of years of deductions can change the moment at which it is possible to claim the pension.
In 2026, the normal age for accessing the old-age pension is 66 years and 9 months, according to the Gov.pt portal and Ordinance No. 358/2024/1, of December 30. For 2027, Ordinance No. 476/2025/1 sets the normal age for access to old-age retirement at 66 years and 11 months.
The normal age is not the same for everyone
The general rule requires that the beneficiary has reached the normal age for accessing the pension and has at least 15 calendar years of remuneration records. In the case of Voluntary Social Security, 144 months of earnings registration are required. But there are exceptions. The Gov.pt portal indicates that, before the normal age, there may be a right to early old-age pension in situations such as long-term unemployment, age flexibility regime, very long careers or the exercise of certain professions covered by special regimes.
There is also a specific regime for people with disabilities. Pursuant to Law No. 5/2022 and , there may be anticipation from the age of 60 when there is disability equal to or greater than 80% and a contributory career of at least 15 years established in this situation. This means that it is not enough to look at the year of birth. Two workers of the same age may have different pension access dates if one has a longer contributory career or is covered by a special scheme.
The role of discount years
In Portugal, there is the so-called personal pension access age. According to article 20 of Decree-Law No. 187/2007, this age results from the reduction of the normal age for accessing the pension by four months for each complete calendar year that exceeds 40 years of contributory career.
The law establishes, however, that this reduction cannot allow access to the pension before the age of 60. In practice, those who have contributed for more than 40 years may see the age at which they can receive retirement without early fines reduced. Still, if the pension is claimed before the applicable personal age, there may be cuts.
Early retirement through flexibility
One of the best-known routes is early retirement through flexibility. According to the Social Security Practical Guide to Old-Age Pensions, the current regime applies to those who are at least 60 years old and complete 40 years of salary records while they are still at that age. This condition is important. It is not enough to reach age 61 or 62 and then have 40 years of contributions. If 40 years were not completed while the person was 60 years old, the previous rules, which include the social security factor, may apply.
Under the current regime, additional time beyond age 40 is used to calculate personal retirement age. For every full year over 40, four months are removed from normal age. If the pension is requested before this personal age, a penalty of 0.5% is applied for each month in advance. In other words, bringing forward retirement may be possible, but it does not necessarily mean receiving the pension without cuts.
Very long careers may escape cuts
There are also more favorable rules for very long contributory careers. Social Security indicates that people who are at least 60 years old and have a contributory career of 48 years can request an early pension without penalty. People aged 60 or over and with at least 46 years of discounts can also benefit from this scheme, as long as they started contributing to Social Security or the convergent social protection scheme before the age of 17. In these cases, the 0.5% cut per month nor the social security factor are applied.
Long-term unemployment has its own rules
Long-term involuntary unemployment may allow early access to the pension, but the conditions depend on the age at which the person became unemployed, the years of deductions and the exhaustion of unemployment benefits. According to the Social Security Practical Guide, in situations covered by the rules applicable since 2007, anyone who became unemployed aged 52 or over and had at least 22 years of discounts can, after exhausting unemployment benefits, access the pension from the age of 57. In this case, there is a reduction of 0.5% for each month in advance compared to age 62.
Anyone who became unemployed at the age of 57 or over can, under certain conditions, request a pension at the age of 62 without reduction due to age, as long as they have completed the minimum period of 15 years and have exhausted their unemployment benefits. The social security factor applies, as a rule, to early retirement due to long-term unemployment. If unemployment results from termination of the contract by agreement, there may also be a further reduction under the terms provided for by Social Security.
The sustainability factor still weighs heavily in some cases
Ordinance No. 476/2025/1 sets the social security factor applicable to retirements starting in 2026 at 0.8237. When applied, this factor reduces the value of the retirement by 17.63%. The factor may apply to early pensions calculated under pre-2019 easing rules, long-term unemployment and some special schemes. On the other hand, it does not apply, as a rule, to the current flexibility regime when the person completed 40 years of contributions while they were 60 years old. It also does not apply to the very long career regime or to pensions claimed at or after normal age.
Ordering early can be expensive
The big question for anyone thinking about retiring before the normal age is to understand the real cost of early retirement. A 0.5% cut per month may seem small, but it adds up quickly. Bringing forward two years of the current flexibility regime corresponds to a 12% reduction in the value of retirement. In other regimes, the result can be even heavier if the social security factor is simultaneously applied. Therefore, the decision must be made with a concrete simulation on the Social Security Portal, taking into account age, contribution career, registered salaries, the applicable regime and the intended date for the pension to start.
The practical answer
In Portugal, the normal age for accessing the pension is 66 years and 9 months in 2026 and will be 66 years and 11 months in 2027. Even so, it is possible to request the pension earlier in certain schemes, especially when there are long contributory careers, long-term involuntary unemployment, disability or professions covered by special rules.
For those who complete 40 years of contribution while they are 60 years old, there may be access to early retirement through flexibility, but with a penalty if the pension is requested before personal age. For very long careers, with 48 years of contribution, or 46 years when the career began before the age of 17, there may be anticipation from the age of 60 without penalty.
The essential rule is this: the longer the contributory career, the greater the margin for anticipation. But, before making a decision, it’s worth simulating, because the difference between ordering now or waiting a few months could represent many euros per month for the rest of your life.
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