How many years must a Romanian work to receive the minimum pension

Thus, Romanians can find out how many years they have to work, according to the new pension law, in order to benefit from the minimum social allowance.

The new pension law, published in the Official Gazette

On December 6, 2023, the pension law, adopted by Parliament in November and promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis, was published in the Official Gazette.

It applies from January 1, 2024. Some of the provisions enter into force from the beginning of the year, and most from September.

The new law states that from January 1, 2024, pensions will increase by 13.8% and will be recalculated in September. The pension point will thus be 2,032 lei.

At the same time, the retirement age will be the same for women and men, respectively 65, introduced gradually.

Also, the minimum contributory contribution period to benefit from the old-age pension will be 15 years.

The new pension law comes with a new calculation formula

Pension calculation = VPR x Total number of points

The VPR (reference point value) will be 81 lei.

Total number of points = contribution points + stability points + assimilated and non-contributory period points.

Non-contributory points: years in the military, unemployment or college (0.25 points each year).

Contribution points: the years you have contributed to the pension system. One point for each year.

Law no. 118/2010 established that the phrase guaranteed minimum social pension will be replaced by the phrase social allowance for pensioners, so social pension and social allowance for pensioners refer to the same thing.

Stability points or bonus points, provided for in the new pension law

The total number of points achieved by the insured is obtained from the summation of his annual points, including those related to non-contributory periods, and the number of stability points.

The insured’s annual score is determined by dividing by 12 the sums of the monthly scores achieved in a calendar year.

A number of stability points are granted for the contributory contribution period achieved over 25 contributory years as follows:

– 0.50 points for each year achieved over 25 years. Example: between 25 and 30 years old, 2.5 points are awarded;

– 0.75 points for each year achieved over 30 years. Example: between 30 and 35 years, 3.75 points are awarded;

– 1 point for each year achieved over 35 years.

How many years must a Romanian work to receive the minimum pension

“It is the minimum contribution period, something provided for in all the national legislations of the member states of the European Union, it is a provision that we also had in the current law, because when you contribute to a system you need a certain minimum contribution period to be able to benefit later from that system.

Now with us the internship is 15 years, we have kept this minimum internship, we have not increased either the minimum internship or the standard internship.

Also, for mothers, we introduced this novelty that was also discussed in Law 127 and we discussed very clearly with the European Commission and the World Bank and we arrived at this provision with six months for each child”, explained Marius Budăi recently, former Minister of Labor, at Antena 3 CNN.

According to the new pension law, which applies from September 2024, the old-age pension is granted upon reaching the standard retirement age, provided that a minimum of 15 years of contributory contributions have been achieved.

When calculating the 15-year contributory contribution period, the respective assimilated periods, higher education, military service, the allowance for special working conditions – the former II and I work groups (of 4 months or 6 months) are not taken into account per year), the non-contributory periods, prior to April 1, 2001.

The minimum pension or the minimum social allowance is worth 1,281 lei.