Who is insured?

Who doesnt look forward to a well-earned retirement after years and years of hard work? The old-age pension is one way of ensuring that those who are covered and their families can enjoy a certain amount of financial security during their golden years. But who is actually insured and confident of being well-provided-for in their old age, or in the case of reduced earning capacity, or if left behind as widow or widower?

Under the pension insurance scheme all persons are compulsorily insured who are employed by others or are vocational trainees with the exception of civil servants. Pension insurance provides these persons with lifelong protection against the financial risks entailed by reduced earning capacity, old age and death. This also applies to disabled people employed at sheltered workshops, as well as people on military or civilian service. Even some people who are self-employed are compulsorily insured. These include self-employed tradespeople, although they may opt out after 18 years of paying contributions. Self-employed artists and members of the publishing professions may apply for insurance coverage under the Artists Social Welfare Act. The prerequisite for joining this scheme is a certain minimum annual income, although this requirement may be waived for newcomers to a profession.

Compulsorily insured are:

  • in general all workers,
  • trainees,
  • certain groups of self-employed persons, such as master craftsmen, school and kindergarten teachers, midwives, artists, those in the publishing professions, and others,
  • people on military or civilian service,
  • non-employed carers,
  • claimants of so-called income-replacement benefits, such as sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, cash benefits during sickness, transitional allowance and maintenance benefit,
  • disabled persons working in sheltered workshops, and
  • mothers or fathers during the initial child-raising period (for births on and after 1 January 1992 up to three years, for births up to and including 31 December 1991 up to one year).

Farmers are not compulsorily insured under statutory pension insurance, but rather in the Farmers' Pension Fund (in German).

Civil servants are generally exempt from paying insurance contributions, as are those in marginal employment with monthly earnings of not more than 400 Euro.