Summer, beach, retirement – for many it may be a dream to enjoy retirement in countries where others go on vacation. There is definitely a clear trend in pensions abroad.
Berlin – More and more Germans are drawing their pension abroad. The number of pensions paid to Germans abroad rose from around 229,000 in 2015 to 248,000 last year.
This comes from statistics from the German Pension Insurance, which are available to the German Press Agency in Berlin. In 2000, only 152,000 Germans received their pension abroad.
Most foreign pensions to Germans are paid to Austria with over 27,000, followed by Switzerland with almost 27,000 pensions and the USA with around 23,000 pension payments.
During the stay abroad, the pension can be transferred to your own account at a bank abroad – or to your own account in Germany. The pension insurance advises to make yourself smart about the conditions beforehand. Because when the pension is transferred abroad, bank charges and exchange rate losses can arise. The pension insurance then does not need more than the international bank code BIC and the international account number IBAN.
The figures also include pensions for people with a migration background who have in the meantime acquired German citizenship and then return to their old home.
European law and the social security agreements concluded with many countries also ensure that people do not suffer any disadvantages in terms of retirement if they are still pursuing a professional activity abroad, said the chairman of the federal representative assembly of the pension insurance, Uwe Hildebrandt, of the dpa.
The number of pensions that the pension insurance paid to foreigners abroad also increased significantly over the years. In 2000 this was 1.06 million pensions. Last year the pension insurance paid out 1.48 million such pensions. With around 363,000 payments, most of these pensions go to Italy, followed by Spain (around 193,000) and Austria (around 96,000).
The increase is largely due to the immigration of workers, especially from Italy, Spain, Greece, the former Yugoslavia and Turkey in the 1960s and 1970s, said Hildebrandt. Many have returned to their home country.
Overall, the number of foreign pensions – i.e. pensions to Germans and foreigners abroad – was around 1.74 million in 2020. This corresponds to almost 7 percent of all pension payments. Around 1.26 million pension payments were made in 27 countries of the European Union in 2020. Around 260,000 pensions are paid to the other European countries. The remaining foreign pensions go to different countries around the world. The USA has the largest share of this with more than 76,000 payments. dpa
