How much will someone earn who retires without having contributed for 20 years?

When a person retires, they experience two big changes. The first is that she gets the dream break which implies the end of her status as a worker and the second is that her main source of income changes, since she stops receiving a salary and starts receiving a retirement pension every month .

As this benefit becomes their main source of income, the question inevitably arises for the future retiree: how much will I receive with my pension? A question that has no single answer since, as with almost everything surrounding pensions, it depends on contributions.

This is why everyone asks themselves this question by taking as a reference the time they have contributed throughout their professional life. For example: how much pension will I receive if I retire with less than 20 years of contributions?

In this case, two possibilities must be considered: that the person has contributed for less than 15 years or that, although they have contributed for less than 20 years, they have reached this benchmark of 15 years which will allow them to find themselves in another, more advantageous position.

How to retire with less than 15 years of contributions?

In this case, the worker will have to request a non-contributory retirement pension, since it does not reach the minimum required by law to benefit from a contributory pension.

According to information from IMSERSO, the non-contributory retirement pension is one which “ensures to all citizens over 65 years of age and in need an economic benefit, free medical-pharmaceutical assistance and complementary social services, even if they have contributed or have paid insufficiently to be entitled to a contributory pension.

To benefit from the non-contributory pension, you must meet the following conditions:

• Have a contribution of less than 15 years.
• Be at least 65 years old.
• Have resided in Spain for at least 10 years between the age of 16 and the pension accrual date. Of these, at least two must occur immediately before.
• Do not have income greater than 7,250.60 euros per year. If you live with several people in the same cohabitation unit, the ceilings for the entire unit are 12,326.02 euros per year for two people (they rise to 30,815.05 euros per year if you live with children or parents), 17,401.44 euros per year for three people. (it amounts to 43,503.60 euros with parents or children) and 22,476.86 euros per year for four or more people (it is 56,192.15 euros per year if you live with children or parents) .

Amount of pension for a person who has contributed for less than 15 years

As the IMSERSO website explains, the amount of the non-contributory retirement pension is 517.90 euros per month (7,250.60 euros annually), although the amounts change in certain cases:

• The amount of the 25% pension is 129.48 euros per month and 1,812.65 euros per year.
• If two beneficiaries coincide in the same cohabitation unit, the amount for each of them is 440.22 euros per month and 6,163.01 euros per year.
• If three beneficiaries coincide in the same cohabitation unit, the amount for each of them is 414.32 euros per month and 5,800.48 euros per year.

How can you retire with more than 15 years of contributions and less than 20?

Finally, basically, like the vast majority of workers: receive the contributory retirement pension, which is what the majority of Spanish retirees receive. In addition to the contribution, the general social security law (articles 165 and 205, available on this link) requires workers to:

• Access the pension by being affiliated to Social Security and registered with the corresponding scheme.
• Have the ordinary retirement age: in 2024, it is 66 years and six months for people with less than 38 years of contributions and 65 years for people who reach this contribution.

The amount of the pension if you retire with less than 20 years of contributions

You must use the Social Security retirement pension calculation method, which takes into account the number of years contributed by the worker and the contribution bases for which these contributions were paid.

The first step is calculate the regulatory basewhich in the retirement pension is made up of the sum of the contribution bases of the previous 25 years (a total of 300 bases) divided by 350. In this calculation, Social Security will apply coefficients to the contribution bases, with the exception of those of the last two years, to reflect the effect of inflation on them and workers will be able to benefit from the integration of the gaps by which the periods without contributions are filled with fictitious bases (not available for domestic workers and independent).

To know the percentage of regulatory base to which the worker is entitled, his contribution must be taken into account. The following references are used: 50% with 15 years of contributions, an additional 0.21% of the regulatory base for each of the following 49 months and 0.19% for each of the following 209 months.

On this basis, and considering only people with less than 20 years of contributions, the amounts could be as follows:

• 50% of the regulatory base for people with 15 years of contributions.
• 52.52% of the regulatory base for people with 16 years of contributions.
• 55.04% of the regulatory base for people with 17 years of contributions.
• 57.56% of the regulatory base for people with 18 years of contributions.
• 60.08% of the regulatory base for people with 19 years of contributions.

In addition, workers (mainly women) who can benefit from the supplement to reduce the gender gap Pensions will have to add to this amount 33.20 euros per month and per girl, up to four.

Minimum amount of retirement pensions

All pensions, however, must respect limits set by law and which change every year. In 2024, the following minimum amounts operate, according to the Social Security website:

• The minimum amount is, in general, 1,030.30 euros per month (14,466.20 euros per year) for holders with a dependent spouse, 825.20 euros per month (11,552.80 euros per year) for people without a spouse and 783.30 euros per month (10,966.20 euros per year). ) for people with a non-dependent spouse.
• The minimum amount for people under 65 is 1,030.30 euros per month (14,466.20 euros per year) for holders with a dependent spouse, 772 euros per month (10,808 euros per year) for people without a spouse and 729.70 euros per month (10,215.80 euros annually) for people with a non-dependent spouse.
• The minimum amount for people aged 65 or over suffering from a serious disability is 1,549.90 euros per month (21,698.60 euros per year) for holders with a dependent spouse, 1,237.80 euros per month (17,329.20 euros per year) for people without a spouse and 1,174.90 euros per month. (16,448.60 euros annually) for people with a non-dependent spouse.

Maximum amount of retirement pensions

The same thing happens, but in reverse: retirement pensions are also capped, but in this case generally. Royal Decree-Law 8/2023 (you can consult it at this link) established that the maximum amount of pensions in 2024 is “3,175.04 euros monthly or 44,450.56 euros annually“.