Dutch state pension age is sixty-seven in 2026 and 2027. From 2028 it rises to sixty-seven years and three months, and stays there through 2031.
But there's a more important fact than the table: state pension age is only fixed for people born before 1 October 1964. If you're younger than about sixty-two, your date isn't final. And if you're calculating about retiring early, you're calculating against a date that can move.
The fixed state pension ages
| Year | State pension age |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 67 years |
| 2027 | 67 years |
| 2028 | 67 years and 3 months |
| 2029 | 67 years and 3 months |
| 2030 | 67 years and 3 months |
| 2031 | 67 years and 3 months |
These are final. Nothing has been set for 2032 onwards.
The dividing line is your date of birth: anyone born before 1 October 1964 knows their age for certain. Anyone born on or after that date doesn't.
How state pension age is determined
State pension age is legally tied to life expectancy. If the Dutch population lives longer on average, the age moves with it.
The formula looks at the remaining life expectancy of a sixty-five-year-old as estimated by Statistics Netherlands:
V = 2/3 × (life expectancy − 20.64) − (current state pension age − 67)
If V comes out at 0.25 or higher, state pension age rises by three months. Below that, nothing changes. The 20.64 is the average remaining life expectancy at sixty-five during the 2000 to 2009 reference period.
Here's how that played out recently:
| Measurement | For year | Life expectancy | V | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| end 2022 | 2028 | 21.73 | 0.73 | rise to 67 years and 3 months |
| end 2023 | 2029 | 20.89 | below 0.25 | no rise |
| end 2024 | 2030 | 20.96 | below 0.25 | no rise |
| end 2025 | 2031 | 21.02 | 0.003 | no rise |
The reason state pension age has stalled recently isn't political but demographic: life expectancy is rising more slowly than previously forecast.
The five-year notice
State pension age is set five years in advance. In autumn, Statistics Netherlands measures life expectancy, after which the government finalises the age for the year five years later.
That's deliberate: it gives you five years to adjust your planning if the date shifts.
For anyone close to retirement that's ample. For anyone calculating at forty about retiring early, it means the most important variable in the calculation won't be certain for another twenty years.
What a shift costs you
Here it becomes concrete, and nobody else works this out.
Your state pension date determines how long your bridge is: the period between your stop date and the moment pensions switch on. If your state pension age moves back, that bridge lengthens and you need more wealth.
For someone wanting to stop at fifty with €40,000 of annual spending:
| State pension age | Bridge | Wealth required | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 years | 17.00 years | €614,970 | |
| 67 years and 3 months | 17.25 years | €618,727 | €3,757 |
| 67 years and 6 months | 17.50 years | €622,447 | €7,477 |
| 68 years | 18.00 years | €629,779 | €14,809 |
| 69 years | 19.00 years | €644,018 | €29,048 |
Every three months of delay costs roughly €3,757. And that figure depends on when you stop:
| Stopping age | Per 3 months | Per full year |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | €3,088 | €12,351 |
| 50 | €3,757 | €15,027 |
| 55 | €4,571 | €18,283 |
| 60 | €5,561 | €22,244 |
The later you stop, the more a shift costs. That follows: there's less time to absorb the difference through returns.
Why this affects everyone under sixty
State pension age is fixed through 2031, which covers everyone born before 1 October 1964. In 2026 that's someone aged sixty-two.
Everyone younger is calculating against an assumption.
That's no reason not to calculate. It is a reason to build in margin. Anyone planning at forty to stop at fifty-five is best served running the numbers with a state pension age of sixty-eight rather than sixty-seven. That costs roughly fifteen thousand euros extra in the model, and it prevents discovering fifteen years later that your bridge is a year longer than you thought.
There have been proposals in recent years to tighten the link with life expectancy, which would raise state pension age faster than the current formula requires. Whether any of that proceeds is a political question. For your planning the practical conclusion is the same: don't calculate against the floor.
Your date is a date, not a month
A detail that catches people out. Since 1 April 2012 the state pension starts on the day you reach the age, not on the first of that month.
Born on the twentieth, your state pension begins on the twentieth. For that final month it means a partial payment, and for your planning it means bridging those days yourself.
Apply in good time too. The SVB advises doing so several months ahead, because a late application means a late first payment.
Where to find your date
The table on this page gives the general picture. Your personal date depends on your date of birth, and the SVB has a calculator for it.
Go to svb.nl, enter your date of birth, and you'll get your age and the exact start date. Born on or after 1 October 1964, you'll get an expectation rather than a determination.
Log in to Mijn SVB with your DigiD and you'll also see your accrued percentage, which matters at least as much. How that accrual works is covered in the article on how much state pension you receive.
How Gylder fits in
Your state pension age is one of the four inputs to the bridge calculator, alongside your spending, your stopping age and what arrives after that date.
The calculator works out how much wealth you need at your intended stop date and saves the result as a wealth target with that date attached. Your total wealth, spread across bank, broker, crypto, precious metals and your property with the mortgage underneath, updates daily and is measured against it.
The state pension age field defaults to sixty-seven, and you can change it. For anyone far from retirement there's a case for setting it to sixty-eight and seeing what happens. The difference shows up in the model, and that's precisely what a calculator is for: not to hand you one figure, but to show how sensitive that figure is.
What this doesn't tell you
Nothing is fixed after 2031. Everything you read about it is an expectation based on current forecasts, and those are revised annually.
The formula can change. The link to life expectancy is in law, but laws get amended. There have been proposals in recent years to accelerate the rise.
Your personal date is on svb.nl. This page gives years; your date depends on your birth date and lands on a specific day.
This isn't advice. For decisions about your pension date, the SVB and your pension provider are what count.
Frequently asked questions
What is state pension age in 2026? 67 years. The same applies in 2027. From 2028 it's 67 years and 3 months.
When will I receive my state pension? It depends on your date of birth. Born before 1 October 1964, your date is fixed. After that it isn't final yet. Calculate it on svb.nl.
Will state pension age rise further? Not through 2031. After that it depends on life expectancy. Each three-month rise requires the forecast to increase sufficiently.
Why has state pension age stalled recently? Because life expectancy is rising more slowly than previously forecast. At the end-2025 measurement the formula produced 0.003, well below the 0.25 threshold needed for a rise.
What does a higher state pension age mean if I want to retire early? Your bridge lengthens and you need more wealth. Stopping at fifty, every three months costs roughly €3,757; stopping at sixty, roughly €5,561.