Pension insurance term of private sector employee
Verified 22 September 2023 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)
The amount of your pension depends in particular on your pension insurance period. The duration of pension insurance mainly includes periods worked and paid in. But it also includes some non-contributory periods.
We present you with the information you need to know.
Video - My career and pension rights at a glance
Pension insurance term refers to the periods of your working life during which you establish pension entitlements.
Pension insurance term is recorded in quarters.
Your number of pension insurance quarters is one of the taken into account for calculate your pension amount.
To have right to a full pension, you must:
- or have a specified number of quarters pension insurance,
- or retire at age 67 no matter how many quarters you have.
The number of quarters required to be entitled to a pension at full rate before age 67 depends on your year of birth :
You were born: | You can retire from: | Number of quarters required to have the full rate | Auto Full Rate Age |
|---|---|---|---|
In 1957 | 62 yrs | 166 (41 years 6 months) | 66 years 9 months |
Between 1er January 1958 and December 31, 1960 | 62 yrs | 167 (41 years 9 months) | 67 yrs |
Between 1er January 1961 and August 31, 1961 | 62 yrs | 168 (42 years) | 67 yrs |
Between 1er September 1961 and December 31, 1961 | 62 years and 3 months | 169 (42 years 3 months) | 67 yrs |
In 1962 | 62 years and 6 months | 169 (42 years 3 months) | 67 yrs |
In 1963 | 62 years and 9 months | 170 (42 years 6 months) | 67 yrs |
In 1964 | 63 yrs | 171 (42 years 9 months) | 67 yrs |
In 1965 | 63 years and 3 months | 172 (43 years) | 67 yrs |
In 1966 | 63 years and 6 months | 172 (43 years) | 67 yrs |
In 1967 | 63 years and 9 months | 172 (43 years) | 67 yrs |
From 1er january 1968 | 64 yrs | 172 (43 years) | 67 yrs |
If you retire before the age of 67 without the required number of quarters, the amount of your pension is reduced according to the number of quarters you are missing. This reduction is called a discount.
If you have worked in other sectors than the private sector and contributed to several pension funds, this is your total insurance duration, all schemes, which is taken into account in determining whether or not you are entitled to full-rate retirement pensions.
Your pension insurance term includes periods in which you worked and contributed to a minimum wage.
The minimum revenue to post 1 quarter is:
- Since 2014 : Income, at least equal to the amount of the hourly minimum wage in force on 1er January of the year, during each period worked, multiplied by 150 hours (for 2023, €1,690.50)
- From 1972 to 2013 : Income at least equal to the amount of Hourly minimum in force during each period worked, multiplied by 200 hours
- Before 1972 : Income at least equal to the quarterly amount of the allowance for older salaried workers (AVTS) determined at 1er January of each year in which you worked
Unpaid training leave shall be deemed to have given rise to contributions equal to those paid during the immediately preceding period of work of the same duration.
Your pension insurance term also includes unpaid periods, such as:
- Accident at work Periods of sick or sick leave during which you have received daily allowances: 1 quarter is validated for each 60-day period of compensation
- Maternity leave during which you received daily allowances
- Accident at work Periods in which you received an income from a permanent disability pension of at least 66% : 1 quarter is posted for each calendar quarter which includes 3 monthly payments of your disability pension
- Periods during which you received a disability pension: 1 quarter is validated for each calendar quarter which includes 3 monthly payments of your disability pension
- National Service
- Periods of short-time work from 1er march 2020: it is validated 1 quarter for 220 hours compensated
- Traineeships: Traineeships you have taken as a jobseeker and the following traineeships are taken into account:
- Community utility work
- Work placements in company
- Youth Volunteer Internships
- Local Integration Programs
- Internships for the introduction to working life
1 quarter is validated for each period of 50 days of internship.
- Quarters as a caregiver providing permanent care to your family home to a disabled adult whose permanent disability exceeds a rate set by decree who is your spouse or ascendant, descendant or collateral or ascendant, descendant or collateral of your spouse. You receive an additional quarter per 30-month period, up to a maximum of 8 quarters.
- Extra insurance periods granted if you continue to work beyond 67
- Quarters granted through a prevention business account (C2P)
Others situations may be taken into account (periods of pre-trial detention, period of inclusion on the list of high-level sportsmen, period of voluntary service, etc.).
The number of insurance quarters is limited to 4 by calendar year.
However, quarters granted free of charge (known as insurance term increases) for children in particular are not charged to a particular year.
The year you retire, the number of quarters retained is the combination of the number of quarters validated by your salary limited to the number of quarters at the date of departure.
Example :
If your salary is valid for 4 quarters but you retire on 1er July, only 2 quarters are selected.
Quarters are posted until the date your account is stopped at Pension Insurance.
This date is set to the last day of the calendar quarter preceding your retirement.
You can view your career statement, which summarizes your pension insurance duration, on the Retirement Info site from your retirement account.
If you have worked in sectors other than the public service, your career statement provides a chronological summary of all your different periods of employment.
You can print and download your career statement in PDF format.
From the age of 55 onwards, you can report to your pension plans the anomalies in your career statement and ask for their correction: missing jobs, inconsistencies, etc.
Retirement Info - Correcting my career
Your pension funds are directly informed. You can then follow their treatment on your pension account.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
- Social Security Code: Article L351-2 to L351-6-1Insurance periods, equivalent periods and periods treated as such
- Social Security Code: Articles R351-3 to R351-20Insurance periods, equivalent periods and periods treated as such
- Decree No. 2020-1491 of 1 December 2020 on the recognition of periods of partial activity for pension rights
- My Retirement Account
Online service
- Periods treated as insurance quartersNational old-age insurance fund
- Duration of insurance under the general schemeNational old-age insurance fund
- Retirement InfoPublic interest grouping "Union retirement"
- Social Security Pension InsuranceNational old-age insurance fund
- Hourly minimum: historical amountsNational old-age insurance fund
- AVTS: amount historyNational old-age insurance fund