1. Postponing your pension (flexible retirement)

You do not have to start receiving your pension immediately when you reach retirement age. You may choose to start later. In that case, your pension will increase for the period it was postponed. The later you retire, the higher your pension will be.

According to 2026 calculations, the average reduction for retiring earlier is:

1 year earlier → –7.17%
2 years earlier → –13.78%
3 years earlier → –19.88%
4 years earlier → –25.50%
5 years earlier → –30.67%

Read more: Social Insurance Board website.

EXAMPLE*
Kersti reaches retirement age and is granted a pension of about 700 € per month.
She continues working as a medical consultant and decides to postpone retirement by 2 years. As a result, her later pension increases by about 13%, meaning she would receive approximately 820 € per month after two years.

* The reduction and increase percentages are based on projections. The exact percentage depends on your year and month of birth and the time your pension is granted.

 

 

2. Working while retired

By continuing to work, you keep earning pension rights, and the money in your pension pillars continues to generate returns. Your pension is recalculated every year, which means it may increase. Each year on 1 April, pensions are recalculated, taking into account the employment income received in the previous year.

While working, you may combine your salary with pension payments from different pillars.

Read more in the article (LINK): “What are the options for combining the best pension for yourself?”

Working includes:

• Earning income subject to social tax under a contract
• Operating as a sole proprietor
• Receiving income through an entrepreneurship account

 

 

3. Suspending pension payments

Since 2021, it has been possible to receive only half of your first pillar pension or to suspend it entirely. This option is intended for people who already receive a pension but can temporarily manage without it (or with half of it) and thus increase their future pension.

The suspended part is not paid out later as a lump sum. Instead, you will receive a slightly higher pension every month for the rest of your life. Future indexation is applied to the increased pension amount. The increase coefficients are the same as for flexible retirement.

You may suspend and resume pension payments once per month by submitting an application to the Social Insurance Board. The change takes effect from the following calendar month.

EXAMPLE*

A: You receive your full pension from the start (700 €/month).
B: You suspend half of your pension for the first 2 years. After that, your pension is permanently about +6.825% higher (≈ 747.8 €/month).
C: You suspend your pension entirely for the first 2 years. After that, your pension is permanently +13.65% higher (≈ 795.6 €/month).

 

Try it yourself: In the Pension Calculator, you can test different scenarios and see how your decisions affect your pension amount.

The pensionable age will gradually increase to 65 years by 2026 and will depend on average life expectancy from 2027. However, you have the flexibility to retire based on your personal preferences and needs. Use the eesti.ee pension calculator to plan your retirement and make informed decisions.

You do not have to withdraw your pension immediately upon reaching pensionable age, you can do so at any later time and your pension will increase by the amount of time deferred.

Retirement options

• Retirement upon attainment of pensionable age: you do not have to withdraw your pension immediately upon reaching pensionable age, you can do so at any later time. Your pension will increase by the amount of time deferred.
• Early retirement: as of 2021, it is possible to claim I pillar pension up to five years before the attainment of pensionable age.
• Flexible old-age pension: it is possible to take flexible old-age pension up to five years before reaching the standard pensionable age, with the option to withdraw only half your pension.

From 2027 onwards, the pensionable age will be linked to average life expectancy and may increase by a maximum of three months per year. From 2027, the pensionable age will be set based on the calendar year rather than the year of birth, as is the case until 2026.

The pension qualifying period is determined by different life activities, such a studying, raising children, working and serving in the military. A pension qualifying period is divided as follows:

• the years of pensionable service which are calculated until 31 December 1998: calculated on the basis of employment record book and documents;
• the accumulation period which is calculated as of 1 January 1999: calculated on the basis of social tax paid on your behalf.
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  The years of pensionable service (until 31 December 1998)

  The years of pensionable service include the following activities:

• Working
• Working as a sole proprietor if social tax was paid
• Serving in the Estonian Defence Forces
• Studying in a vocational educational institution, institution of professional higher education or university in daytime study
• Caring for a child under three years of age until the child attains three years of age (for one of the child’s caregivers)
• Raising a child for at least eight years (two years for each child for one of the child’s caretakers)
• Participating in labour market training organised by an employment office and the time during which you received unemployment benefit
• Caring for a Category I disabled person, or a disabled child under 18 years of age
• Being an active member of an artistic association or trade association
• Working on a farm, if the farm was exempt from taxes
• Performing mandatory work as a person punished by conditional imprisonment, doing community work in lieu of imprisonment or working in a medical-labour centre

The accumulation period (as of 1 January 1999)

As of 1 January 1999, the accumulation period is calculated on the basis of social tax. One year towards the accumulation period is calculated if social tax has been paid in your behalf in the amount of at least the annual minimum wage. Your working years and eligibility for pension are verified on the basis of the accumulation period, but it does not form the basis for calculating your pension.

How to check your pension qualifying period?

Only those who have worked prior to 1999 need to submit data and documents about working, studying, serving in the military and raising children. Since then, the calculation of the pension qualifying period is based on social tax and the social tax data are available in registers.

If you have submitted the employment record book and/or the documents necessary for certifying your length of employment to the Social Insurance Board, you can find information about your length of employment in the e-notice of the state pension insurance register in the state portal or on the Pension page under ‘My allowances and services’ in the self-service portal of the Social Insurance Board.

You can see which periods of employment are already in the information system of the Social Insurance Board by opening the pension calculator in the state portal and clicking on the ‘Certified statement of years of pensionable service’ button at the bottom of the calculator.

Pension rights for raising children

If you are a parent, you can find more information about the pension rights awarded for raising children on the website of the Social Insurance Board

I pillar, or state old-age pension, consists of four parts:

• Base amount, which is the same for everyone: 354.9887 euros per month (as of 1 April 2024).
• Component calculated on the basis of years of pensionable service, the amount of which depends on the years of pensionable service earned, ie the number of working years and years deemed to be equal to working (eg bringing up children, conscription). These years are taken into account up to 31 December 1998. The monetary value of one year of pension qualifying period in the monthly pension is 9.512 euros (as of 1 April 2024).
• Insurance component, the amount of which depends on the amount of social tax paid on the pensioner’s wages since 1 January 1999. It is calculated on the basis of the sum of annual pension insurance coefficients. The annual coefficient shows the ratio of the social tax paid on a person’s wages during the calendar year to the social tax paid on national average wages. If the social tax is paid on average wages, the annual coefficient is 1.0 and its monetary value in the monthly pension is 9.512 euros (as of 1 April 2024).
• Joint part, which started to accumulate from the beginning of 2021. It consists of 50% of the insurance component, which is calculated as the previously accumulated insurance component, and 50% of the solidary component. The solidary component is 1.0 if social tax has been paid for a person during the year on at least 12 times the minimum wage. If the social tax paid for the person is less than the annual minimum wage, the solidary component is calculated in proportion to their wages.

If a person who has resided in Estonia for at least five years before attaining pensionable age has not earned an Estonian pension qualifying period of 15 years, they will be entitled to national pension once they reach pensionable age.

You can access the data available at the Social Insurance Board and use a pension calculator to calculate the approximate amount of your old-age pension.

The following have the right to pension supplements:

• officials,
• rescue service employees,
• repressed persons and persons who participated in the elimination of the effects of a nuclear disaster.

Pension supplements for officials

If you have worked as an official, the following supplement will be added to your old-age pension:

• 10% in the case of 10 to 15 years of service
• 20% in the case of 16 to 20 years of service
• 25% in the case of 21 to 25 years of service
• 40% in the case of 26 to 30 years of service
• 50% in the case of more than 30 years of service

Pension supplements for rescue service employees

If you have worked as a rescue service employee, the following supplement will be added to your old-age pension:

• 10% in the case of 10 to 15 years of rescue service
• 20% in the case of 16 to 20 years of rescue service
• 25% in the case of 21 to 25 years of rescue service
• 40% in the case of 26 to 30 years of rescue service
• 50% in the case of more than 30 years of rescue service

Repressed persons and persons who participated in the elimination of the effects of a nuclear disaster

You are entitled to a pension supplement if you:

• are incapacitated for work, have been in a custodial institution, were deported (including children born in deportation), were a prisoner of war or were in a concentration camp or ghetto during the Second World War (in which case you will receive a pension supplement of 20% of the national pension rate);
• are incapacitated for work as a result of a nuclear disaster, nuclear test or a nuclear power plant accident (in which case you will receive a pension supplement of 10% of the national pension rate).

If you participated in the elimination of the effects of a nuclear disaster, nuclear test or nuclear power plant accident, the expert analysis of the Social Insurance Board will determine the causal link between the accident and the illness causing reduced work ability.

For more information on pensions, visit the website of the Social Insurance Board.

Raising children may entitle you to an earlier or higher pension. A parent (or a parent’s spouse, parent’s registered partner, guardian or foster parent) who for at least eight years has raised a child under 18 years of age is entitled to a child-related pension supplement that increases their pension.

Pension supplement for raising children

The date of you child’s birth determines the pension supplement that will be added to your pension in relation to raising children. If you have raised at least three children or a child with a disability for at least eight years, you are entitled to early old-age pension without a reduction in your pension amount.

Calculation of pension supplement

• Children born before 1991: the time spent raising them is included in the pension qualifying period.
• Children born as of 1 January 1991 (until 2013): the pension supplement is added if the parent has raised the child for at least eight years. The pension supplement amount is three times the value of a year of pensionable service per child. As of 1 April 2021, the value of a year of pensionable service is 7,206 euros. The value of a year of pensionable service is reviewed once a year in April. For more information on the indexation of pensions, visit the website of the Social Insurance Board.
• Children born as of the beginning of 2013: the right to receive supplementary contributions to the mandatory funded pension, ie II pillar, account from the child’s birth until the child attains three years of age. If the parent has joined the II pillar, the Social Insurance Board pays an additional 4% of the average Estonian monthly income taxable with social tax into the pension account each month. If the parent has not joined the II pillar, they are entitled to a pension supplement in the amount of three times the value of a year of pensionable service.

How to apply for a pension supplement?

Only one parent can claim each right at a time. Parents must agree in writing who applies for the pension supplement. If no agreement is reached, the rights are divided equally between both parents.

Confirmation of written consent

The other parent must confirm their consent in writing. To this end, you can use the self-service portal of the Social Insurance Board or submit the consent on paper. You can find more information and the consent form on the website of the Social Insurance Board.

To receive pension, you must express your wish to retire. The pension application must be submitted to the Social Insurance Board at the right time, along with all the necessary additional documents.

You can submit the claim:

• in a digitally signed form via email to [email protected]
• by post to Paldiski mnt 80, 15092 Tallinn
• in person at the customer service office of the Social Insurance Board
• in the self-service of the Social Insurance Board

Application deadline

• If you wish to start receiving your old-age pension the day your pension rights arise, you must submit the application within a period of nine months:

• from six months before the right arises
• up to three months after the right arises

If you submit the application later, the Social Insurance Board will grant the pension from the date of submission of the claim. If you had the right to receive old-age pension earlier, this is deferred old-age pension and your pension will increase by 0.9% for each deferred month.

Submitting the claim and necessary documents

You can find the application form on the website of the Social Insurance Board under pension forms. You must submit the documents necessary for granting pension together with your application. If you do not have a certain document and it is difficult to obtain, consult a customer service clerk of the Social Insurance Board. The Social Insurance Board can make an enquiry to an archive or institution where data on your pension qualifying period can be found. Archive enquiries are subject to a fee: the amount of the fee depends on the price list of the specific archive and the fee must be paid by the pension claimant.

Life certification

If you live outside Estonia but receive pension from Estonia, you have to provide life certification every year.

Pension certificate

You will receive a decision on your pension within 15 working days of submitting the last required document. The Social Insurance Board will send your pension certificate by post within 10 working days following the decision. As of 1 July 2019, new pensioners are granted pension certificates in the form of plastic cards. However, the old paper pension certificates continue to be valid as well.

Payment of pension

All pensions are paid on the fifth day of each month. If it falls on a weekend or public holiday, the Social Insurance Board pays the pension on the last preceding working day.

The Social Insurance Board pays state pensions to the residents of Estonia and Estonians abroad. The bases for payment of pension vary between pension types.

Old-age pension – the aim of state old-age pension is to provide a monthly income in old age. To receive old-age pension, you must have earned a pension qualifying period of at least 15 years.

Flexible old-age pension – flexible old-age pension can be taken up to five years before the general pensionable age or at any point after it.

Early retirement pension (valid from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025) will be replaced by flexible old-age pension.

Deferred old-age pension – if you take deferred old-age pension, your old-age pension amount will increase by 0.9% for each month that has passed since you attained pensionable age.

National pension – if you do not have the right to receive old-age pension due to lack of pension qualifying period when you have attained the pensionable age, but have resided in Estonia for at least five years before making a pension claim, you have the right to receive national pension.

Old-age pension under favourable conditions – gives you the right to retire before you have attained the pensionable age. You can get this right, for example, if you have raised three or more children or a child with a moderate, severe or profound disability for at least eight years or have worked in professions hazardous to health. If you choose to claim old-age pension earlier under these conditions, your pension amount will not be reduced.

Special pensions – if you have worked as a police officer, prosecutor, serviceman, judge, member of parliament, auditor general or chancellor of justice, you have the right to receive professions and positions old-age pension under favourable conditions. You have the right to receive superannuated pension if you have worked in professions which involve loss or reduction of professional capacity for work before attaining the pensionable age which hinders continued work in such professions or positions.

Survivor’s pension – if a family member dies, the state supports their dependants by paying them survivor’s pension.

To claim a pension, you will need to submit a number of documents which determine the amount of your pension. If you do not have a certain document and it is difficult to obtain, consult a customer service clerk of the Social Insurance Board. The Social Insurance Board can make an enquiry to an archive or institution where data on your pension qualifying period can be found. Archive enquiries are subject to a fee: the amount of the fee depends on the price list of the specific archive and the fee must be paid by the pension claimant.

Submit the following documents together with your pension application:

• personal identification document (for identification purposes at the customer service office)
• employment record book or other documents certifying the years of pensionable service and employment (archival notice, employment contract, directive, order, etc)
• diploma from a vocational educational institution, secondary vocational school or higher education institution
• military card
• document certifying the birth of a child, if the child was born outside Estonia
• marriage certificate, if you married abroad and changed your name following marriage
• bank account number where you wish to receive your pension
• if your family includes adult children, an application for claiming a pension supplement for raising a child
• consent to waiver of the years of pensionable service, old-age pension under favourable conditions or a pension supplement

Note! You can only submit the documents you have. For example, if you have not served in the military, you do not have to submit a military card.

How to submit documents

• Paper documents: submit original documents or their notarised copies. If you bring the documents to the customer service office of the Social Insurance Board yourself, you will get them back as soon as they are digitised.
• Electronic documents: photograph or scan the documents. The documents must be in colour (if the original is in colour), clearly legible and contain all the information that is on the page of the original document. It is essential that you send all pages of the documents that contain entries. You may be asked to clarify the data and, if necessary, provide the original document.

The procedural time limit is calculated from the date of receipt of the document. If all the necessary information has not been provided, the procedural time limit starts from the date of receipt of the missing information.

The application for state pension is reviewed within 15 working days of the date of receipt of the application and documents necessary for claiming pension, or within the same time limit after the receipt of the supporting documents. Where necessary, the Social Insurance Board may extend the time limit it has set.

Other procedural time limits for pensions and pension-related challenges are available on the website of the Social Insurance Board.

Pensions and allowances can be paid into your bank account or delivered by post, as you wish. Pensions are paid on the fifth day of each month.

Payment options

Pensions and allowances are paid at your request

• to an Estonian bank account: your personal bank account in Estonia;
• to another person’s bank account: if you submit a digitally signed application or provide an application at a customer service office or a notarised application;
• home delivery by post: the price of the service is 7.37 euros per month. It is possible to receive a pension or the social benefit for disabled persons by post;
• to a foreign bank account: to your foreign bank account at your own expense.

Home delivery exceptions

A pension/allowance is paid as home delivery by post free of charge if your mobility is restricted or you live in a low density area and your access to banking services is restricted. To this end, submit an application with explanations, detailing the reasons for requesting home delivery.

What should you do when you are not at home?

If your pension was delivered to your home but you were not at home, the postal worker will take your money back.

If a pension which is paid by post is not withdrawn for at least two months, payment of the pension is suspended. To continue receiving your pension, you must submit a corresponding application. Your pension will be paid from the date of suspension.

Receipt of pension in hospital

If you receive your pension as home delivery by post, but you are in hospital, you can authorise someone to receive the pension on your behalf. The authorisation document is certified by the head of the medical institution (chief doctor) and it is valid for the receipt of unreceived pension for a period of up to six months.

As of the beginning of 2023, the basic exemption is 654 euros per month or 7,848 euros per year. From 1 January 2024, the basic exemption for persons of pensionable age is 776 euros per month. The different basic exemption is linked to pensionable age and does not depend on total income, the receipt of pension or the type of pension. This basic exemption also applies if the person attains the pensionable age during the calendar year.

Basic exemption for persons of pensionable age

• Automatic calculation: the Social Insurance Board automatically applies the basic exemption of 776 euros to the pension of a person of pensionable age. You do not need to contact the Social Insurance Board or submit an application for this.
• Basic exemption and II pillar: if the person’s pension is lower than the average old-age pension and they also receive regular payments subject to income tax from the II pillar, the Social Insurance Board calculates the basic exemption first from the I pillar pension and then the II pillar pension payments.
• Work and pension: if a person has reached the pensionable age, is working and the pension they receive is less than 776 euros, they can transfer the unused basic exemption part to their wages. To this end, they must submit and application to their employer, specifying the amount of the unused part of the basic exemption.
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  How to check and change the basic exemption amount?

  • Self-service portal of the Social Insurance Board: information on the basic exemption applied to your pension and allowances can be found in the self-service portal of the Social Insurance Board. You can also change the basic exemption amount on the same page.
  • Via email in digitally signed form: send the corresponding application to [email protected].
  • By post: send the corresponding application to the Social Insurance Board at Paldiski mnt 80, 15092 Tallinn.
  • Customer service office: submit the corresponding application at a customer service office of the Social Insurance Board.
  
  

  More information

  The table on the website of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board shows which pension-related payments are exempt from tax and which are taxed. Read more about basic exemption on the website of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board.

On 1 April each year, pensions are indexed to keep pensions in line with wages and price changes.

If you are a working pensioner and you earned wages last year, the additional insurance component for the previous year is also calculated for you. This means that in addition to indexation, your pension will also increase by this.

 

The following are taken into account in the calculation of a pension:

• change in the receipt of the pension insurance part of the previous year’s social tax – 80%;
• change in the consumer price index of the previous year – 20%.

Indexation only takes place in the case of increase. In the event of decrease, pensions are not reduced.

Indexation increases both the base amount and the value of a year of pensionable service.

 

Base amount of pension
The base amount of pension is the foundation of a pension that is the same for all pensions.
The base amount of a pension is 399,2400  euros.

 

Value of a year of pensionable service
The value of a year of pensionable service is the monetary value of one year of pensionable service or an insurance component.
The value of a year of pensionable service is 10,477 euros.

 

National pension
People who have not earned the minimum required pension qualifying period (15 years) will be paid a national pension. The national pension rate also changes each year with indexation.
The national pension rate is 414,10 euros.

It is possible to claim and receive Estonian pension while living in a foreign state by following the correct procedures. If you live in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or a contracting country, contact the social security institution of your state of residence; in other countries, contact the Estonian Social Insurance Board directly. When moving to another country, it is important to submit an application for the continuation of pension payments to ensure a stable income in retirement.

Claiming and receiving Estonian pension while living in a foreign state

If you live in a country in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or a country with which Estonia has a social security co-operation agreement and wish to claim Estonian pension:

• contact the social security institution of your state of residence;
• submit to them the documents required for claiming Estonian pension;
• the competent authority of your state of residence will forward your pension application to the Estonian Social Insurance Board.

If you live in another foreign state and wish to claim Estonian pension, contact the Estonian Social Insurance Board directly either:

• via email at [email protected]
• by post at the address Paldiski mnt 80, 15092 Tallinn, or
• in person at the customer service office of the Social Insurance Board.

Receiving pension while living in a foreign state

If, at the time of receiving a pension, you are moving to another country in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or a contracting state, you have the right to keep receiving the pension you earned in Estonia.

A person of pensionable age living elsewhere in the world who has earned at least 15 years of pension qualifying period in Estonia will be paid Estonian pension.

When you move to a foreign state, you must submit an application to the Social Insurance Board for continuation of Estonian pension payments.

If you move to Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus or the Russian Federation, your Estonian pension payments will continue to be paid quarterly via the competent authorities of the respective country. If you move to one of these countries, to keep receiving Estonian pension payments, you must contact the competent institution of your place of residence, which will draw up the documents necessary for the continuation of payments and forward them to the Estonian Social Insurance Board.

To find out more about receiving Estonian pension in a foreign state, visit the website of the Social Insurance Board.

The allowance for a pensioner living alone is 200 euros and it is paid once a year – with the October pension.

 

The allowance is paid to all people of pensionable age:

• who live alone according to population register data (see also if you live in a care home, are someone’s guardian or ward);
• whose monthly pension is smaller than 1.2 times the Estonian average pension, as published by Statistics Estonia for the second quarter of the year before the budgetary year.

In 2026, the pension received must be less than 992 euros to qualify for the allowance.

 

Pensioners do not have to apply for the allowance

The allowance is paid after the verification of data in national registers. Data on the person’s age and pension amount is obtained from the social protection information system and data on their place residence from the population register.

 

Note! The allowance is not paid to persons who, during the period from 1 April to 30 September, were imprisoned or in provisional custody or for whom the court ordered coercive psychiatric treatment in the form of in-patient treatment.

 

Payment of allowance

The allowance for a pensioner living alone is paid annually with the October pension and eligibility is verified each year. To qualify for the allowance, the person must meet the conditions during the whole period from 1 April to 30 September.

State Pension Insurance Act
The procedure for calculation of a pension qualifying period
Funded Pensions Act
Social Tax Act
Old-Age Pensions under Favourable Conditions Act
Superannuated Pensions Act

Social Insurance Board
Estonian Pension Centre
Ministry of Social Affairs
Ministry of Finance