Pension

New rules for drawing a national insurance retirement pension come into force on 1 January 2011. Read more about the flexible retirement pensjon

The present pension system in Norway

Old age pension

Pensionable age in Norway is 67. The national insurance old age pension comprises a basic pension and a supplementary pension. Persons with a low or no supplementary pension will receive a special supplement.

Basic pension

Basic pension is calculated according to the number of years the person has been a member of the Norwegian national insurance, from the age of 16 to the end of the 66th year. This is called the insurance period (trygdetid). Insurance over 40 years provides a full basic pension.

Supplementary pension

Supplementary pension depends on the number of years you have had an income from gainful employment (pensionable income) in Norway (years credited with pension points) and the size of your earned income (pension points figure). One pension point year in Norway is counted as a one year insurance period, see above under “Basic pension”.

Supplement for spouse and children

Supplement for spouse and children may be awarded for supported spouse and children. These supplements are means tested, i.e. income-related.

You can find more information at www.nav.no.

Other pension arrangements

Most employees in Norway have a sevice pension system providing old age pension. You can get more information on this from your employer.

Disability pension

Persons who have earned the right to a pension in Norway may have a right to a disability pension from the national insurance if the ability to work has decreased by at least 50 per cent as a result of long-term sickness, injury or defect. If a person has been gainfully employed, after a sickness period of a year and after having undergone appropriate medical treatment with possible rehabilitation aiming at improving the ability to earn an income, a disability pension may be granted.

Pension to surviving spouse

A widow or a widower who has been married for at least 5 years or has had a child or children with the deceased may receive a survivor’s pension based on the rights the deceased had earned within national insurance in Norway.
A deduction from the pension is made for the income the survivor may receive or can be expected to receive. The deduction constitutes 40 per cent of the income over a non-deductible amount.

The pension to the surviving widow or widower is not time limited, but will cease if the surviving person remarries.