Moved here later? Your AOW gap, and how to plan around it

How big your gap is

You build up 2% of a full AOW for each year you live or work here, in the 50 years before your AOW age. With an AOW age of 67, that window starts at 17. Count the years from 17 to the year you arrived: that's your gap, at 2% each.

Moved here at	Years by AOW age 67	Share of a full AOW
25	42	84%
29	38	76%
35	32	64%
40	27	54%

The table assumes you stay until your AOW age. Years you live abroad later make the gap bigger the same way.

What it costs you

The AOW is paid for the rest of your life, so a gap is a cut you feel every year from your AOW age.

Example

You moved here at 35 and live with a partner. You'll get 64% of a full AOW: about €729 a month instead of €1,139.39, before tax. With holiday pay, that's about €5,200 a year less, which your savings or other pensions have to make up.

The rate for people living alone is higher, €1,662.16 a month in full, and the gap takes the same share off it.

Buying back missing years

If you've been insured for the AOW for at least five years and worked here for five years, you may be able to buy missing years from the SVB, out of the 50-year window. The premium depends on your income in each year you buy, with a minimum for each year. The SVB works it out when you apply, so ask early: whether it pays off depends on that premium against what each year adds, 2% of a full AOW for life.

Planning around it

A smaller AOW doesn't change when it starts, but it changes what your savings have to do after that. Before your AOW age nothing changes: savings pay for the years you've stopped working either way. From your AOW age, they have to pay what your AOW doesn't cover, for longer.

Your pension through work and a lijfrente can fill part of the gap. So can pensions from countries you lived in before, at their own pension ages.

Questions people ask

Do years in another EU country count for the AOW?

No, but they aren't lost. Each EU country pays its own pension for the years you lived or worked there, so you may get a smaller pension from each, starting at that country's pension age.

Does each partner have their own gap?

Yes. Each of you builds up your own AOW from your own years here, so a couple who arrived at different ages each get a different percentage.

Where can you see your AOW percentage?

Mijn SVB, where you log in with DigiD, shows how much AOW you've built up so far and how much you'll have by your AOW age if you stay.

Do you get any AOW after only a few years here?

Yes. Every year counts for 2%, so five years here gives 10% of a full AOW, paid from your AOW age wherever you live then.

Sources

This guide explains the general rules. It isn't personal financial advice.