According to the Czech Statistical Office, a record-breaking 44,600 people took early retirement last year. This figure is 20,000 more than the previous year, marking the highest increase yet. The rise in early retirement is attributed to changes in pension valorization.
The increase in early retirement requests had two significant impacts. Firstly, it overwhelmed the Czech Social Security Administration, which processes the requests, leading to delays. Secondly, the conditions for early retirement have become less favourable since October.
Now, people can retire three years before their standard retirement date, not five years as before. From next year, they will also need to have worked for 40 years, not 35. Early pensions are now reduced more than before. Until a person reaches the standard retirement age, their assistance will not be valorized.
The number and proportion of people taking early retirement are increasing. Last year, 680,000 people received an early retirement pension. While in 2010, recipients of early pensions accounted for 19 percent of all total old-age pension recipients, in 2022, this figure was already 28.8 percent.
In total, 2.37 million people received old-age pensions last year. Additionally, 414,000 received disability pensions, 24,000 received widows or widowers pensions independently, and 39,000 received orphans’ pensions. The number of old-age pensioners decreased by 10,600 compared to the previous year.