1,670 euros. It is the raw average pension affected by a retiree in France, according to the 2025 edition of the annual DREES survey (Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics Department) on French pensions. Attention, This figure only concerns direct law pensionthat is to say that calculated on the basis of your own contributions over your career. Nothing to do with the survivor’s pension, which is paid to the surviving spouse after a death. Since it is calculated in your worked and therefore contributed quarters, the direct law pension is logically higher for retirees with a full career: Those who have validated all of their quarters affect 2,000 euros gross per month on average.
Average obliges, not all retirees do not reach this level of pension. As the DREES points out, “”These differences (…) partly reflect the inequalities of professional careers»». For example, a former employee who has contributed to the general scheme, that of retirement insurance, receives an average of 1,920 euros gross monthly, when an ex-independent in liberal profession, it receives 3,120 euros gross each month. THE gender Also determines the amount you will receive directly when the retirement age has come. As proof, “The amount of the direct law pension of women living in France is 38% lower than that of men”. In question, careers more often interrupted, sometimes because of maternity or partial time imposed, but also generally lower positions in the hierarchy. And less salary is less contributions and, mechanically, lower pension pensions.
In Paris, retirement pensions are almost 40% higher
Another factor that weighs heavy in the amount of your pension: The place you live. If the Institute underlines that “The average amount of direct law pensions varies little between the French departments”the differences can still reach the thousand euros! By relying on the 2020 data, the DREES recalls that that year, the raw average pension of direct law of retirees residing in France amounted to 1,532 euros. Gold, In Paris, a retiree received an average of 2,131 euros, 39% more than the national average! The Hauts-de-Seine, in the Paris suburbs, almost displayed the same level, with 2,081 euros gross, a third (36%) more than the national average. These more generous pensions are quite simply explained: pensions being calculated on the basis of wages, they are higher in areas where remuneration is already superior, as in the Paris region, where the concentration of frameworks and the cost of living pull everything up.
Conversely, other territories display pensions well below the national average. This is the case with Reunion and several overseas departments, Who are among the lower pensions in the country. Thus, a retiree Reunion receives an average of 1,189 euros, or 343 euros less than the rest of the French retirees. But these large differences do not only concern overseas. In mainland France, Cantal holds the sad record for the lower pensions, with 1,297 euros on average. Logic is a bit the same as for Paris. This rural department concentrates Few executiveswhich draws wages – and therefore pensions – down. Could be added to this another factor: the weight of the agricultural sector. Many workers contribute to the specific agricultural pension plan (MSA), traditionally less generous than the general scheme. As a result, in these rural areas, pensions remain mechanically more modest.
