The number of retirement applications recorded in 2025 broke all previous records.

According to official data from EFKA (the Social Security Agency) covering the entire year, the number of applications reached 225,800, exceeding the previous record set in 2021, when 212,151 applications were submitted, compared with 211,135 in 2022 and 190,368 in 2023.

The highest number of applications during the year was recorded in September, the month when teachers submit their applications (20,552), followed by July and January 2025—months preferred by salaried employees, as they are also entitled to receive part of the following year’s Christmas bonus.

In the previous decade, waves of mass retirements were recorded in 2010, when the first bailout memorandum imposed increases in retirement age limits (135,000 applications), as well as during the period 1998–2006, when major voluntary exit schemes took place at OTE, PPC (DEI), and banks.

The new surge in retirements is mainly due to the favorable regime in place for working pensioners, as, according to insurance experts, 4 out of 5 self-employed individuals who retire continue to work.

Meanwhile, the latest ATLAS report shows that pending main pensions (overdue cases) amount to 15,462, while non-overdue pending cases stand at around 30,000. The best performance is credited to EFKA services handling pensions for former IKA insured workers (38%), while pension issuance rates remain low for funds (public enterprises, banks, etc.) that were integrated into EFKA, as well as for public-sector pensions.

Nevertheless, EFKA services are managing to cope with the increased number of applications, having completed 23,400 cases in October. However, if new benefit-award applications continue to rise month by month, pressure on the system will intensify.

Experts estimate that the increased flow of retirements will continue until 2027, when the baby boomer generation is expected to have exited the labor market. That is, from 2023 onward, total departures are expected to exceed 800,000.

The reasons that led to another year of mass exit from employment

1. Maturation of retirement rights for the baby boomer generation.
   This generation, characterized by a surge in births, developed in Greece between 1960 and 1965—much later than in Western Europe and the United States—since Greeks first had to leave behind the wounds of the Civil War and the impoverished 1950s. During that five-year period, around 170,000 births per year were recorded, whereas today births do not exceed 90,000 annually.
2. Concern over a possible increase in retirement age limits from 2027.
   The issue of raising retirement age limits in Greece is expected to be put on the table in late 2026–early 2027, based on the study of the Actuarial Authority, which is conducted every three years. According to experts, it is expected to reflect an increase in life expectancy—currently at 81.5 years—leaving open the possibility of raising retirement age limits. However, Labor Minister Niki Kerameos has assured that “there is no discussion whatsoever about changing retirement age limits.”
3. EFKA’s positive performance in the rapid issuance of pensions despite the increased volume of applications.
   Insured individuals are no longer subjected to the hardship experienced in previous years, except in complex cases (successive insurance, outstanding debts, international pensions).
4. The factor that has boosted mass retirements in recent years is the ability to retire without stopping work.
   Under the new regime, pensions are paid in full to working pensioners. Especially in the sector of self-employed professionals and independent scientists, 4 out of 5 who retire continue working. The contributions and the 10% levy paid by working pensioners strengthen EFKA’s revenues. At the same time, however, expenditures are also higher, as pensions are paid without the former 30% penalty.