According to figures from the pension insurance, which were published by the Federal Ministry of Labor following an inquiry from the Left faction of parliament and subsequently reported by the news portal T-Online, more than half of those receiving the penalty-free pension after 45 years of contributions have paid into the pension insurance for 47 years or more.
Specifically, the statistics show that around 55 percent of recipients of this type of pension have accumulated 47 or more contribution years. In total, the pension insurance statistics account for 244,695 pensions granted to particularly long-term insured individuals. Of this group, 134,645 have contributed at least 47 years, while 110,050 contributed 46 years or less.
Amidst these findings, Sarah Vollath, the parliamentary spokesperson for the Left faction on pension policy, criticized the planned repeal. “Most people who draw the pension for particularly long-term insured individuals have contributed more than 47 years to the pension insurance,” Vollath told T-Online. She argued that those who have worked and paid into the system for such an extended period “have more than deserved a penalty-free pension.” A vast majority of the population shares this view. “The federal government must finally realize that the announced abolition of the pension for particularly long-term insured individuals is a big mistake and must abandon this misguided path,” the Left politician continued.
The pension commission currently proposes eliminating the penalty-free pension for individuals who have reached 45 years of contributions. Both Federal Minister for Labor, Bärbel Bas (SPD), and Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), had announced in the summer that the government intended to implement the pension reform as a complete package. Despite this policy push, opposition to the plan exists across both the CDU and SPD.
