Retirement age and early pension in Egypt under Law 148 of 2019
When is the old-age pension due in Egypt, and when can an employee retire early? Age 60 and 180 actual months in 2026; early pension needs 300 months and 50%.
By Social Insurance & Labour Department · 15 October 2026 · 9 min read
Executive summary
- The old-age pension age in 2026 is 60 for employees and 65 for business owners and irregular workers (article 1(10) of the Social Insurance and Pensions Law No. 148 of 2019). It is to be unified at 65 from 1 July 2040 by a Prime Minister's decree that sets the stages (article 41). We have not found that decree.
- The old-age pension requires at least 180 actual months of contributions since 1 January 2025, up from 120 months before that date (article 21(1)).
- An insured person who reaches the age without that period receives lump-sum compensation: 15% of the annual wage for each year of contributions (article 26).
- Early pension requires periods giving a pension of at least 50% of the last settlement wage and at least EGP 1,755 in 2026, with at least 300 actual months since 1 January 2025 (article 21(6)).
- Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 allows the employer to end the contract when the employee reaches 60, and grants a gratuity for work after 60 that earns no old-age insurance rights (articles 171 and 172).
The pension age today and when it rises
Article 1(10), as corrected, defines the old-age pension age as "the age of sixty for items First and Third of article (2) of this law, and the age of sixty-five for the insured persons referred to in items Second and Fourth, subject to article (41) of this law". Article 41 provides:
"The Prime Minister, on the proposal of the minister responsible for social insurance, shall issue a decree unifying the old-age pension age gradually so that it becomes sixty-five from 1 July 2040."
| Category (article 2 of the law) | Pension age in 2026 | From 1 July 2040 |
|---|---|---|
| Employees (First) and Egyptians working abroad (Third) | 60 | 65 |
| Business owners and similar (Second) and irregular workers (Fourth) | 65 | 65 |
The law fixes only the end point and leaves the stages and their dates to the Prime Minister's decree. The executive regulations (Prime Minister's Decree No. 2437 of 2021) add no dates. We have not found the decree as of this review, so we give no dates for the stages. The law also allows a lower pension age for arduous or hazardous work by Prime Minister's decree (article 21); we have not found such a decree.
Business owners' insurance is covered in Social insurance for business owners.
The old-age pension: the minimum period
The pension is due on "reaching the old-age pension age with a contribution period in old-age, disability and death insurance of no less than 120 actual months at least, the period being 180 actual months five years after the date this law takes effect" (article 21(1)). The law took effect on 1 January 2020 (article 7 of the promulgating articles), and article 102 of the regulations states the date of the increase expressly:
| Entitlement | Up to 31 December 2024 | From 1 January 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Old-age pension | 120 actual months (10 years) | 180 actual months (15 years) |
| Early pension | 240 actual months (20 years) | 300 actual months (25 years) |
The contribution period includes periods under earlier social insurance laws and periods added at the insured person's request (article 23).
The total pension may not be less than 65% of the minimum insurable wage at the date of entitlement in the cases in items 1 to 5 of article 21 (article 24). The minimum insurable wage is EGP 2,700 in 2026, so the minimum pension is EGP 1,755, the figure the National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) announced for those retiring from January 2026. It changes on 1 January 2027 with the minimum insurable wage, as explained in The insurable wage. The pension is due from the first day of the month in which the cause of entitlement arose (article 25).
If the period is short: lump-sum compensation
Where service ends and the conditions for a pension are not met, "lump-sum compensation is due", calculated at 15% of the annual wage for each year of the contribution period, the annual wage being the settlement wage under article 22 multiplied by twelve (article 26). One of the cases in which it is paid is reaching the old-age pension age, and an amount at the average treasury-bill rate is then added for the time between the end of contributions and the end of the month before entitlement.
Example: an employee reaches 60 in 2026 with 144 months of contributions and a settlement wage of EGP 8,000 for the whole period. There is no pension, because the period is under 180 months. The compensation is 8,000 × 12 × 15% × 12 years = EGP 172,800, plus the treasury-bill amount if time passed between the end of contributions and entitlement.
The law does not allow the period to be completed by contributing after the pension age. Old-age, disability and death insurance does not apply to an insured person who is past the pension age (article 44), nor to those who join work after it (article 45(5), as corrected). The only exception we found in the regulations is for those who reached the age before 1 January 2020 and stayed in work to complete the period: they may continue until it is complete (article 314 of the regulations).
Early pension: the conditions as they stand
The sixth case in article 21 is "the end of the insured person's service, work or activity for a reason other than reaching the old-age pension age, disability or death", which the regulations call "early pension" (article 102(7)). The law sets four conditions:
1. Contribution periods giving a pension of at least 50% of the last settlement wage or income, and not less than the minimum pension in article 24: EGP 1,755 in 2026. 2. Those periods must include at least 300 actual months since 1 January 2025, up from 240 months before that date. 3. A claim for payment, which the regulations put on Form 20. 4. The person must not be covered by old-age, disability and death insurance on the date of the claim.
The regulations also require payment of all amounts owed by the insured person for contribution periods, or the present value of the instalments, before the pension is paid (article 102). The pension is due from the first day of the month in which the claim is filed (article 25), not from the date of leaving work. The last paragraph of article 24 does not list item 6 among the cases in which the pension is raised to the minimum; read with item 6, it means that reaching the minimum is a condition of early pension, not a right to be topped up.
The 50% test depends on age. For each year of contributions the pension earns the settlement wage divided by the factor for the insured person's age in Table 5 (article 24). For a pension age of 60, the factor is 60 at age 55, 50 at age 58 and 45 at age 60. If the whole period is settled on one settlement wage, 300 months give exactly 50% at 58, while someone leaving at 55 needs 360 months to reach that level.
Actual months are not the same as the contribution period. The law does not define "actual period", but article 21 requires the contribution period to include at least 300 actual months, article 23 counts in the contribution period periods for which no contributions were paid at the time, such as periods added at the insured person's request or under special laws, and the regulations distinguish these periods from "the actual contribution period for which contributions were paid" (article 103 of the regulations, on the settlement wage). Read together, the texts mean that such periods help reach 50% but do not make up the actual months.
If a pensioner returns to work covered by old-age insurance, the new contribution period is treated as a separate period (article 44).
What it means for the employer
Article 171 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 provides:
"A retirement age below sixty may not be set. The employer may end the contract when the employee reaches sixty, unless the contract is for a fixed term extending beyond that age, in which case the contract ends only when its term expires. The provisions of the Social Insurance and Pensions Law apply as to the age of entitlement to a pension."
Ending the contract at 60 is open to the employer, not required of it. An employee who stays on after 60 is entitled, for the service after 60, to a gratuity of half a month's wage for each of the first five years and one month's wage for each later year, if that service gives no rights under old-age insurance, on the last wage (article 172). No text links this article to article 44 of the Social Insurance Law; read together, they mean that work after the pension age, which is 60 for employees today, earns no old-age insurance rights, so the gratuity is due for it. Work-injury insurance applies expressly to those who join work after the pension age (article 45, as corrected).
When service ends for any reason, the employer sends Form 6 to NOSI within a week (article 20 of the regulations). It is one of the documents completed at the end of service (article 12 of the regulations), and the form and the penalty for lateness are set out in Social insurance forms 1, 2 and 6. Because early pension requires that the person is not insured on the date of the claim, the end-of-service date on the form must be the actual one.
How the settlement wage and the pension are calculated, the settlement steps and the documents for payment are the subject of a separate article on pension settlement and insurance end-of-service benefits.
What this requires
- A list of the dates on which employees reach 60, and a written decision in each case to end or continue the contract (article 171 of the Labour Law).
- For employees working after 60, the article 172 gratuity recorded among end-of-service obligations.
- Form 6 within a week of any end of service, with the correct date and reason.
- When an employee asks to leave on early pension: a check of the actual months on the NOSI file, of whether the pension at the employee's age factor reaches 50% of the settlement wage, and of any amounts owed for periods.
- Form 1 for any pensioner hired, the new period being separate if the pensioner is below the pension age (article 44).
- A watch for the Prime Minister's decree on the stages of the age increase, and a review of the retirement policy when it is issued.
The firm's Social Insurance & Labour Department reviews employees' ages and contribution periods, checks the early-pension conditions and prepares the end-of-service steps at pension age, as part of its social insurance and labour compliance services.
Mahmoud Nassef, Founder Partner
Chartered Accountant, Ministry of Finance, Egypt
Member, Egyptian Society of Accountants & Auditors
Member, Egyptian Tax Society
Member, Egyptian Society for Public Finance and Taxation
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Disclaimer: This bulletin is prepared for general information on the legislation in force at the date of its publication. It does not constitute a professional opinion or tax or legal advice on any particular matter, and it should not be relied upon in place of advice based on an examination of the circumstances of each case. Nassef & Partners International accepts no responsibility for any action taken, or refrained from, in reliance on its contents. The positions stated remain subject to subsequent legislation and decisions.