Old-age pension

Two conditions, both at once

Entitlement to the regime geral old-age pension requires TWO conditions at the same time: reaching the normal pension age, and holding at least 15 years of registered remuneration (the prazo de garantia, art. 19.º of Decreto-Lei n.º 187/2007). There is no route to the pension on years of work alone, regardless of age.

This section works from the rules and figures in force for 2026, under the current text of Decreto-Lei n.º 187/2007 and Lei n.º 53-B/2006, and the Portarias that implement them. It is not an official Social Security position and the content has not yet been through our final sign-off.

Where to start

• Retirement age — the table by retirement year for 2026 and 2027.
• How the pension is calculated — the art. 32.º income bands, the IAS, the minimum pension, and the annual uprating.
• Early retirement — the two early-access routes and their conditions.
• FAQ — short answers.

14 payments, in retirement too

Just like a salary, the pension is paid 2 times a year — the ordinary monthly amount, plus an additional payment in July and another in December (art. 41.º). Each extra payment is equal to the value of the monthly pension then in payment.

There is no maximum pension

DL 187/2007 sets no maximum money amount for a regime geral old-age pension. Two adjacent but different rules exist and should not be read as a ceiling: art. 34.º n.º 3 caps the accrual RATE (not the money amount) at 80%, and art. 37.º n.º 6 caps only the bonificada variant at 92% of the best reference remuneration. Portaria n.º 480-B/2025/1 art. 2.º n.º 2 freezes the ANNUAL UPRATING above 12×IAS, not the underlying pension itself — a different mechanism (indexation, not a ceiling on the awarded amount).