There will be changes to the retirement age in Spain in 2027. This is the minimum number of years you have to work in Spain before you can retire and get a pension, as well as how long you have to work to get a full state pension.
Spain is increasing the retirement age from the beginning of next year. If you’re working in Spain and plan on retiring here, you’ll need to know all the details.
Before we get into all the pension details and answering the question, however, you need to familiarise yourself with the word cotizar.
Cotizar is a verb which means to make or pay contributions, in the sense of paying tax into Spain’s social security system (la seguridad social). There’s also the noun cotización used to refer to these social security contributions. We mention this early on as when you deal with Spain’s social security system, these words will always come up.
How old must I be to retire in Spain?
Starting from January 1st 2027, the legal age of retirement in Spain will be 67 years old. This will be raised by two months from the current age of 66 years and 10 months.
Next year, if you have worked and contributed (cotizado) significantly to the system for more than 38 years and six months, however, you can retire at 65 with full legal benefits.
This was established back in 2011 which would progressively raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 over a 15-year span.
READ ALSO: How to claim a pension in Spain if you’ve not worked enough years
How long do you have to work in Spain to get a pension?
The minimum number of years you must have worked in Spain (the minimum period of contributions) before you can retire and access a state pension in Spain is 15 years. This remains unchanged.
A required age of 67 years, however, is required for those with less than 38 years and six months of contributions.
If you’ve paid social security contributions for at least 38 years and six months, in 2027 you can retire at 65 years old.
While 67 will be the legal retirement age, according to Social Security, the average retirement age is 65 and a half.
Women tend to retire later than men in Spain, waiting an average of 66 years, either because they have gaps in their pension contributions or because they earn lower salaries. On average, men retire as soon as they turn 65, while the self-employed wait until 66 and a half.
If you want to have an idea of how many years you have worked, and how long you have left before being able to get a Spanish pension, the easiest way to find out is by checking your vida laboral (working life) profile here and logging on with your digital certificate or Cl@ve pin.
READ ALSO: What you need to know about orphan’s pensions in Spain
How much pension will I get?
Logically, fewer years working and paying into the system means that you will get a smaller pension.
It isn’t possible for us to give you an exact idea of how much money you can expect to receive as a Spanish pension because it depends on factors such as how much you earned/contributed, the regulatory base, voluntary or involuntary early retirement among a number of other considerations.
At the beginning of 2026 contributory pension payments increased by 2.7 percent.
This means that the maximum or full state pension in Spain in 2026 is €3,359.60 gross per month across 14 payments, which is equivalent to €47,034.40 per year.
However, the average pension in Spain €1,373.44 gross per month, according to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
If you work 15 years in Spain – the minimum amount of time to get a contributory pension, you qualify for exactly 50 percent of your regulatory base salary. So if your average monthly contribution base (the reference salary figure used by the Social Security system to calculate monthly contributions) was €1,500, your pension would be €750 per month.
Everybody’s work history is obviously different. One of the best ways to find out how much you are likely to get as a pension is by using some of the online calculators that do all the work for you, such as this one here.
If you haven’t made enough social security contributions throughout your working life in Spain as a result of not earning enough or having an unstable working life, you could still claim a non-contributory pension. Non-contributory pensions increased by 11.4 percent in 2026, which amounts to a maximum of €628.80 per month across 14 payments.
READ MORE: How to claim a pension in Spain if you’ve not worked enough years
If you have many years until you retire in Spain, keep in mind that it’s a well-known fact that the country’s ageing population is putting increasing pressure on the social security system and this is likely to have a big impact on pensions in the long run.
In other words, the figures mentioned above may well be very different in a decade or two, and considering a private pension plan could also be wise to secure your future in old age.
