Estonia proposes 2029 pension age of 65 years, four months

Estonia’s Ministry of Social Affairs has sent a draft regulation for consultation that would set the old-age pension age at 65 years and four months in 2029, ERR reported.

The old-age pension age is currently 65. It will rise to 65 years and one month in 2027.

Under the law, the pension age must be confirmed by regulation two years in advance. From 2027, a new system adopted in 2018 will set a separate old-age pension age for each calendar year. Eligibility will therefore depend not on a person’s birth year but on their age in a specific calendar year.

The pension age is based on the expected life expectancy of 65-year-olds, calculated as an average over five years. The 2029 pension age will be based on the average expected life expectancy for 2021 to 2025.

The 2029 pension age will apply to people born between October 1963 and August 1964. For those born from September 1964 onward, the pension age will depend on the age set for 2030.

The ministry said raising the pension age has been widely adopted in European Union member states to ease demographic pressure on public pension systems. In several countries, the age has been raised or is gradually increasing to 67.

Twelve of the EU’s 27 member states have decided to link further increases in the pension age automatically to rising life expectancy. Estonia had 331,000 pensioners as of January 1, 2026, including 315,000 old-age pensioners. The Finance Ministry forecasts that the number of pensioners will rise to about 340,000 by 2060.