Retirement age
The retirement age is not a single figure: each year has two, and which one applies to you depends on how long you have contributed. Meet the year’s threshold and you retire at 65; miss it and you retire at a higher age that rises each year until 2027.
In 2026 the ordinary retirement age is 66 years and 10 months, unless you have 38 years and 3 months of contributions or more, in which case it is 65 years. The two columns do not move together: the contribution threshold was unchanged between 2025 and 2026 while the age rose by two months.
The full timetable
| Year | Contribution period | Age required |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 35 years and 3 months or more | 65 years |
| 2014 | 35 years and 6 months or more | 65 years |
| 2015 | 35 years and 9 months or more | 65 years |
| 2016 | 36 years or more | 65 years |
| 2017 | 36 years and 3 months or more | 65 years |
| 2018 | 36 years and 6 months or more | 65 years |
| 2019 | 36 years and 9 months or more | 65 years |
| 2020 | 37 years or more | 65 years |
| 2021 | 37 years and 3 months or more | 65 years |
| 2022 | 37 years and 6 months or more | 65 years |
| 2023 | 37 years and 9 months or more | 65 years |
| 2024 | 38 years or more | 65 years |
| 2025 | 38 years and 3 months or more | 65 years |
| 2026 | 38 years and 3 months or more | 65 years |
| From 2027 | 38 years and 6 months or more | 65 years |
Each year in the table also has a second row: anyone who does not meet the threshold retires at the higher age shown above for that year.
Legal basis: Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2015 (texto refundido de la LGSS), disposición transitoria séptima (in force 01.01.2026 - 31.12.2026)
The minimum period
You need at least 15 years of contributions, and at least two of them must fall within the fifteen years immediately before the claim. Someone with twenty years of contributions, all of them before that window, does not qualify.
Legal basis: Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2015 (texto refundido de la LGSS), art. 205.1.b) (in force 01.01.2026 - 31.12.2026)