Pension

If you pay full social security contributions in Belgium, you will also accumulate a pension.

In Belgium, pensions are made up of what are known as the three pension pillars:

• the statutory pension (for employees, civil servants and the self-employed)
• the supplementary pension
• retirement savings

The statutory pension itself is made up of three different pension schemes, for employees, the self-employed and permanently appointed civil servants. Depending on your job at the University of Antwerp, you will contribute to the employee or civil servant system: contractual employees and temporary statutory employees contribute to the employee system, while permanently appointed civil servants contribute to the civil servant system.

More information about the employee pension can be found on the website of the Federal Pension Service - Employees Pensions (only available in French, Dutch or German).

More information about the civil service pension can be found on the website of the Federal Pension Service - Civil Servants Pension (only available in French, Dutch or German).

If you've worked in several EU countries, you may have accumulated pension rights in each of them. Pension authorities in each EU country you've worked in will look at the contributions you've paid into their system, how much you've paid in other countries, and for how long you've worked there. Each pension authority will calculate how much of your pension it should pay taking into account periods completed in all EU countries.

More information about pension rights when working in different European countries can be found on the website of the European Union (including a short video on pension rights within the EU).