The normal age of access to old age pension varies according to average life expectancy at 65, an indicator that the Statistics Portugal (INE) updated in November to 19.61 years.
“Thus, considering that the average life expectancy indicator at 65 years of age in the three-year period 1998-2000 was 16.63 years and in the three-year period 2017-2019 it was 19.61 years, the sustainability factor applicable to old-age pensions started in 2020 is 0.8480,” the gazette wrote.
According to the rules in force, those who retire before the age that should be set for 2021, will have a cut in the value of their pension through the sustainability factor (a mechanism that adjusts the retirement age to average life expectancy) and a monthly penalty of 0.5 percent for each month brought forward in relation to the legal retirement age or in relation to the personal retirement age.
There are currently rules in place for access to early retirement that allow people with longer contributory careers to retire without cuts in pensions or only with a monthly penalty of 0.5 percent.