A historic record in retirements is expected to be recorded in 2025 and 2026, according to social security experts, as insured individuals rush to secure their rights before the potential adjustment of general retirement age limits from January 1, 2027 due to demographic changes. 2026 is considered a particularly attractive year for retirement, since the new pension calculation method – which will factor in the wage change index instead of average inflation – is expected to bring larger increases.
Pensions: 48,041 new retirement applications in 2025
The first “taste” of the upcoming major retirement wave is reflected in official EFKA data. In the first quarter of 2025, 48,041 new retirement applications were submitted to EFKA, of which:
• 15,896 new applications in January 2025.
• 16,336 new applications in February 2025.
• 15,809 new applications in March 2025.
It should be noted that, according to the newspaper “Ta Nea,” the years with the most retirement applications were 2021 (212,151) and 2022 (211,133). It should be mentioned here that from 2022 (and from 2023 exceptionally for certain public sector categories) all early retirements were abolished and that in 2024, 197,228 new applications were submitted, 6,860 more than in 2023.
Main reasons for mass retirement of insured individuals
At the same time, it should be noted that the main reasons for mass retirement of insured individuals are the following:
• The possibility of increasing retirement limits from 2027. It is emphasized that at the end of 2026, the government will be called upon to decide whether and how the general retirement age limits in our country will be increased from 1-1-2027 based on life expectancy developments. It is noted that in our country, current legislation provides for a mechanism to increase the retirement age from 2021 onwards, which will adjust the retirement age according to life expectancy every three years. The adjustments of 2021 and 2024 were not made, as age limits had already been increased with the end of transitional provisions and from 1/1/2022 the general rules apply for full pension at 62 with 40 years and old-age pension at 67 with at least 15 years of insurance, while the increase in life expectancy was altered by the pandemic. Therefore, the next milestone that will examine whether and how much age limits will be increased, provided life expectancy has increased, is the years 2027 and 2030.
• The new favorable regime for work after retirement, which allows retirees to be employed without cutting their pension. The measure is showing great success. It is emphasized that with the new retiree employment regime from 1/1/2024, no pension is cut (except for employment of retirees under 62 years old in the public sector) and those who take up work pay a special contribution to EFKA with 10% on their salary or with an increase of the main pension branch contribution by 50% if they are self-employed retirees. A prerequisite for the increase to start counting is to declare their employment to EFKA.
• The retirement of the so-called baby boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964. This generation, characterized by an explosion in birth numbers, developed in Greece between 1960 and 1965, much later than the rest of Western Europe and the USA, as Greeks had to first leave behind the wounds of the Civil War and the impoverished decade of the 1950s before starting to have children. In that five-year period, 170,000 births per year were recorded, while today births do not exceed 90,000 per year. According to a 2016 study (Robolis, Betsis), baby boomer retirement will occur during the period 2022-2029 and during this time frame the annual retirement rate will be double that of the period 2015-2022 (5% annually).
