Since its introduction in 2014, the Mother’s Pension (Mütterrente) has cost the German pension system about €119 billion. Current figures from the German Pension Insurance show that it costs roughly €13.5 billion per year, financed by the pension insurance. The benefit was designed to give better credit for the childcare work of women of the older generation – those who had children before 1992. For children born after 1992, three years of caregiving are counted in the pension calculation; for earlier births, only one year had previously been credited.
The pension was expanded in stages. In 2014 the credited period for older mothers was raised from one to two years (Mütterrente I), bringing annual costs up to about €7 billion. In 2019 the period was increased again by six months to two and a half years (Mütterrente II), and the cost jumped to more than €12 billion. In December of the previous year, the Bundestag approved a third expansion (Mütterrente III) that will add another six months, reaching three years of credited childcare. This will bring the annual cost to around €18.5 billion once the additional €5 billion needed from 2027 onward is financed through tax revenues.
The pension’s expansion has drawn criticism from younger coalition politicians and experts, who argue that the pension system is already under severe financial strain due to an aging population. The CDU‑Economic Council, a lobbying group outside the party, even called for its abolition. The debate centers on whether the additional €5 billion per year-from 2027 onward-can be sustainably funded while keeping the pension system viable.
