As the global job market continues to evolve, an increasing number of individuals are choosing to receive their pensions abroad, having previously worked in Germany. According to the German Pension Insurance, in 2024, the organization paid out nearly 1.7 million pensions to recipients abroad.
This trend has seen a significant rise, with a 23% increase over the past two decades, from approximately 1.4 million in the early 2000s. As a result, around 6.5% of all pension payments are now made to recipients abroad.
According to Hans-Werner Veen, chairman of the board of the German Pension Insurance, the European right and social insurance agreements with many countries ensure that individuals do not face any disadvantages in their pensions when living and working abroad. The surge in pension payments is largely attributed to the influx of workers from Italy, Spain, Greece, former Yugoslavia and Turkey, who migrated to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, worked and made contributions to the pension fund. Many of these individuals have since retired in their home countries and opted to have their pensions transferred to their countries of residence.
Of the nearly 1.7 million pensions paid abroad, around 1.23 million are sent to countries within the European Union, with Italy, Spain and Austria being the top recipients. Outside of the EU, the United States leads the list, with around 86% of all foreign pensions going to non-German citizens and 14% to German citizens living abroad, primarily in Austria, Switzerland and Spain.