How pensions work in the Netherlands

The three pillars

The Dutch government describes the pension system as three pillars: the AOW (state pension), a pension through work and a lijfrente. Each is paid for in a different way. In 2026 a full AOW is €21,203 a year before tax if you live alone, and you can put up to €35,589 into a lijfrente with tax back.

Each pillar has its own guide:

For most people, the first two pillars pay most of their income once retired. A lijfrente is optional, and most useful if your pension through work is small or you have none, for example if you're self-employed.

Your own savings and investments, and your home, are sometimes called a fourth pillar. They aren't a pension, but if you stop working before your AOW age, they pay for the years until it starts. The Pension Bridge guide explains those years, and the Box 3 guide how they're taxed in Box 3, the tax on savings and investments.

Pillar 1: the AOW

The AOW (state pension) is paid by the SVB (Sociale Verzekeringsbank) to everyone who has lived or worked in the Netherlands. A full AOW from 1 July 2026 is €1,662.16 a month before tax if you live alone, and €1,139.39 each if you live with a partner. With holiday pay, that's €21,203 and €14,571 each a year.

You build up 2% of a full AOW for each year you live or work in the Netherlands, in the 50 years before your AOW age. It doesn't depend on your salary or on having a job. If you moved to the Netherlands at 30, you'll have about three quarters of a full AOW. The AOW gap guide works out what missing years cost, and whether buying them back is worth it.

The AOW starts at your AOW age, which is 67 in 2026 and 2027 and will rise for younger people. You can't start it early. The AOW guide has the table by date of birth.

Pillar 2: a pension through work

A pension through work (pillar 2), often called an employer pension, is built up while you're employed. Your employer arranges it with a pension fund or an insurer, and the premium comes off your gross salary (before tax) each month. About 90% of employees in the Netherlands have one, according to the government. In some sectors, such as healthcare and construction, every employer has to join the sector's fund.

What you get depends on your salary, the years you're in the scheme and how the fund invests. It starts at the pension age in your scheme, often 68, and pays for the rest of your life. You can usually start it up to 10 years before your AOW age, but then it pays less each year, for life.

If you change jobs, what you've built up stays with the old fund, or moves to the new one. So after several jobs you often have several pensions. If you're self-employed, you usually build none, apart from a few professions with their own fund. The employer pension guide explains how it builds up, and starting it early.

Pillar 3: a lijfrente

A lijfrente (pillar 3) is your own pension savings, with tax back now. You put money into a lijfrente account or policy with a bank or insurer, and take it off your income in your tax return. How much you can take off is your Jaarruimte: how much you can put in a lijfrente this year and deduct from your income. It's at most €35,589 for 2026, and less if you build a pension through work.

The money is locked until the payouts start, which you choose, and isn't taxed in Box 3 while it grows. Once it pays out, you pay income tax on the payouts. That's often at a lower rate than the tax you got back. The Lijfrente guide explains how the payouts work and the Jaarruimte guide how much you can put in.

How the pillars add up

Two full AOWs would have paid €29,142 between them. Their missing years cost €5,828 a year before tax, for life, which their pensions through work make up for.

The pillars don't all start at once. In this example the AOWs and the pensions start in four different years, from 2057 to 2060. Until then, their savings pay for the years they're not working, which is why most people who stop before their AOW age need far more savings than those who don't.

Where to see your own figures

Two sites show what you've built up, and both need DigiD:

• Mijn SVB, the site of the agency that pays the AOW, shows how many AOW years you have, the date your AOW starts and what it'll be.
• mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl, which lists every pension through work you've built, shows each one's yearly amount before tax and the age it starts. It shows your AOW too.

Your fund also sends you a yearly pension statement (UPO) for its own pension. The employer pension guide explains what each figure means. A lijfrente isn't on either site, so check your bank's or insurer's statement.

The new pension law

Pensions through work are moving to new rules, the Wet toekomst pensioenen (Wtp), which have applied since 1 July 2023. Every scheme has to move by 1 January 2028, and the government confirmed that date in July 2026. Many funds already moved on 1 January 2026.

Under the new rules, your pension is a personal share of the fund's money, invested for you. Your yearly statement still shows what you'd get, but the payout goes up or down with the markets, before and after it starts. From 1 January 2029, you can also take up to 10% of it as one amount when you retire.

The Wtp is about pillar 2. The AOW doesn't change with it.

If you leave the Netherlands

What you've built up in each pillar stays yours. The SVB pays the AOW abroad, but years you live abroad before your AOW age don't add to it. Your pension through work stays with its fund and pays from its pension age, wherever you live. A lijfrente stays yours too, but the tax office can set aside the tax you got back when you leave. The leaving the Netherlands guide covers each pillar, and the tax on them abroad.