Retirement: do you earn more or less than the average pension?

From one pension scheme to another, the amounts of pensions paid vary more or less widely. Here is how you compare to the average, based on figures from the annual report of the Pension Orientation Council (Cor).

Capital Video: Retirement: are you below or above the average pension?

In France, retirees are far from being in the same boat according to their main affiliation system. As recalled in the annual report of the Pension Orientation Council (Cor), published last June, all retirees under direct law (as opposed to secondary law, the survivor’s pension allocated to the surviving spouse) received, on average , 1,580 euros pension each month in 2021… But depending on the career you have led, you will either receive much more or, conversely, significantly less. And this, whether you have retired at full rate or not.

“The main affiliation scheme is an important explanatory factor for differences in pension amounts”underlines the Cor in his report. Retirees affiliated to special schemes are, a priori, the best off. Those who have in fact made a career at SNCF, RATP or the Banque de France, among others, received 2,550 euros in pensions each month in 2021. This is three times more than the sums paid to farmers that same year. And this is more than 1.5 times the average pension paid to all direct pensioners.

Retirees who have had a career in the public service are also more advantaged than the average. In particular civil and military civil servants of the State who received respectively 2,280 euros and 2,020 euros in retirement pension each month in 2021. “These gaps reflect differences in salaries or earned income, the proportion of executives and highly qualified people being greater among the liberal professions and within the civil service, and different contributory efforts”specifies the Cor report.

Many retirees affiliated to several schemes

However, analyzing the differences in pension amounts from one plan to another is difficult. Because no less than a third of retirees are affiliated to several schemes, recalls Cor. This means that they have experienced changes in status during their career, particularly in the event of professional retraining or going back and forth between the public service and the private sector. We then talk about “multi-pensioners under the basic system” retirees : the latter received on average 1,650 euros per month of pension in 2021. That is to say 150 euros more on average than so-called “single pension” retirees, that is to say who did not experience a career change during their professional career.

And that’s without taking into account the pension gaps based on gender. Because on average, female retirees under direct law received 1,180 euros each month in 2021 while men received 1,950 euros. And the gaps widen or narrow depending on the basic affiliation regimes. “Pension gaps between women and men are relatively small in the civil service and other special schemes, while they are greater in the private sector, particularly among self-employed people”points out the Cor report. This is demonstrated by the average amounts of pensions paid to liberal professions: 2,740 euros per month for men compared to 1,700 euros for women, or more than 1,000 euros difference.