More and more pensioners are moving abroad – for one simple reason

Created: 06/24/2022, 09:52

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

The number of pension payments abroad has risen sharply in recent years.

This is primarily a consequence of the German economic miracle.

Freiburg – summer, sun, tax benefits – or just back home: more and more pensioners want to spend their retirement abroad.

Former guest workers in particular are drawn back to their country of origin.

In addition, popular holiday destinations such as Greece attract retirees with tax advantages.

German pension insurance: More and more retirees are going abroad

The number of pensions paid abroad has risen by around 37 percent over the past 20 years.

This emerges from a statistic of the German pension insurance, which is available to the German Press Agency.

According to this, around 1.72 million pensions were paid out abroad last year.

In 2001, the figure was still 1.26 million.

Sea view on Mallorca: many retirees dream of retiring under palm trees.

© Imago

Working in Germany – and returning home to retire

One reason for this is that foreigners who used to work in Germany are now increasingly reaching retirement age and have returned to their home country, said Jens Dirk Wohlfeil, chairman of the Federal Assembly of Pension Insurance Representatives.

Most of these workers come from countries such as Italy, Spain, Greece, the former Yugoslavia and Turkey.

Many of them moved to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, said Wohlfeil.

The German pensioners are mainly drawn to Austria

Around 13 percent of foreign pensions are paid to Germans who live abroad.

Their share has increased by almost two percentage points within twenty years.

Most of those affected draw their pension in Austria (over 26,000), followed by Switzerland (just under 26,000) and the USA (around 22,000).

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The German pension insurance reminds emigrants to notify the change of their address by post when moving.

Corresponding forms are available in the download center of the Renten Service.

Retirees can find the address of the responsible pension service in their pension notification or their annual pension adjustment notification.