Early retirement for long careers: conditions and ages in 2026

Early retirement for long careers may apply to you if you started working before age 16, 18, 20, or 21. You must also have 5 quarters of contributions at the very beginning of your career (4 if you were born between October 1st and December 31st) and a specific number of quarters of contributions across all pension schemes. For a retirement starting on or after September 1st, 2026, the official table for those who started working before age 20 indicates, for example, that for those born in 1967, retirement is at age 61 with 172 quarters of contributions.

This page covers the conditions and the table for those "before age 20." It does not provide the retirement ages for pensions taking effect from September 1, 2026, for those who began working before age 16, 18, or 21. It also does not address the pension amount, the text of the decree, early retirement due to disability or incapacity, or the situation of those who have contributed abroad.

The conditions to be met

1. Having started working early

The official document identifies four age thresholds: before 16, before 18, before 20, and before 21. At the beginning of a career, any type of activity, including military service, can be taken into account.

2. Have 5 quarters of contributions at the start of your career

You need 5 quarters at the very beginning of your career, or 4 if you were born between October 1st and December 31st. The French National Retirement Insurance Fund (Assurance retraite) states the condition as follows: you must have accumulated at least 5 quarters before the end of the calendar year in which you turn 16, 18, 20 or 21 (see the Assurance retraite page on long careers).

3. Have a specified number of quarters of contributions

The number varies depending on your situation. The official form refers to a simulator to determine the required duration. The table below shows the published values for starting work before the age of 20.

The quarters that count as contributions

The official statement adds certain periods to the quarters actually contributed, within set limits:

The document also mentions periods of illness and work-related accidents with daily allowances, compensated maternity and adoption leave, periods compensated under the old-age insurance scheme for stay-at-home parents and caregivers, vocational training internships and apprenticeships, increases to the occupational prevention account, and periods of contributions made abroad if an international agreement applies. Any limits on these periods are not detailed here.

Purchased quarters do not count. The information sheet on buybacks is clear: quarters validated following a buyback are not taken into account when assessing eligibility for early retirement. According to the information sheet, bought-back quarters can count either solely towards the pension accrual rate or for both the rate and the length of insurance coverage, depending on the option chosen. In both cases, they do not count towards qualifying for a long career.

What changed on September 1, 2026

The Social Security Financing Act for 2026 (Law No. 2025-1403 of December 30, 2025) suspends the increase in the legal retirement age and the required contribution period until 2028. A decree of May 7, 2026, specifies its implementation for long careers. According to the official announcement published on July 15, 2026, and updated on July 17, 2026, only those whose retirement takes effect on or after September 1, 2026, are affected. This page does not explain what will happen after 2028. The introductory text on the French National Retirement Insurance Fund (Assurance retraite) website also cites January 1, 2026, as the effective date for this table: please verify the applicable effective date with the French National Retirement Insurance Fund.

Official information does not always define in the same way which generations are affected by the suspension for long careers. Check your generation in your simulation before making a decision.

Table: Start of activity before age 20, retirements from September 1, 2026

The table appears in the news section of service-public.fr and on the website of the French National Retirement Insurance Fund (Assurance retraite), both of which reproduce it in a consistent manner. The "Former age" column uses the phrase "instead of" from the official table. The last column shows the legal retirement age published for the same generation.

The legal retirement age is that of pensions taking effect from September 1, 2026. For a given generation, the difference between the two ages can be seen directly in the table: thirty months for those born in 1967.

Pensions taking effect before September 1, 2026

For these pensions, the Pension Insurance publishes another scale, depending on the age at which employment began:

The procedures

The online application service can be used 5 months before your retirement start date. The application is a single submission and valid for all your pension schemes. The service issues a provisional or final retirement certificate. The information sheet warns: do not stop working before receiving confirmation of your situation from all your pension schemes.

The pension amount

The long-career pension is calculated under the same conditions as any other retirement pension granted to an employee. According to the French National Retirement Insurance Fund (Assurance retraite), if you are receiving a disability pension, it will cease to be paid as soon as you are granted early retirement.

Numerical example (fictitious profile)

Situation. Paul was born on March 15, 1967. He started working in September 1985, at the age of 18, and accrued at least 5 quarters of contributions before the end of the calendar year in which he turned 20 (assummary profile). As of March 15, 2028, he has 168 quarters of contributions and 4 quarters purchased for his studies (assummary).

Issue. For his generation, the table requires 172 quarters of contributions and retirement at age 61. Paul has a total of 172 quarters on his statement, adding together quarters contributed and quarters purchased. Can he retire at age 61?

Strategy. Exclude the purchased quarters, which do not count towards early retirement. He is therefore missing 4 quarters of contributions. For simplicity, we assume that he validates them over 12 months starting from March 15, 2028, i.e., 4 quarters per year, the maximum for a given year.

Result. Paul turns 61 on March 15, 2028, but his 172 quarters of contributions are only accumulated a year later: retirement is possible from March 15, 2029, at age 62. His legal retirement age, 63 years and 6 months, is reached on September 15, 2030. Early retirement under the long-career scheme thus occurs. 18 months before the legal retirement age, compared to 30 months if all 172 quarters had been contributed by age 61. Before the suspension, the retirement age for the 1967 generation was 61 years and 3 months (June 15, 2028), i.e., 3 months later.

Limitations of the example. The table above is published for pensions taking effect from September 1, 2026, and the suspension runs until 2028. The sources consulted do not specify which rule will apply to a retirement in 2029: the example uses the table as published, by assumption. The date of March 15, 2029, is also a simplification, which does not take into account how the quarters are actually validated. You should verify this on your pension statement and with the French National Retirement Insurance Fund (Assurance retraite).

This profile is fictitious. The quarters, employment dates, and validation rate are hypothetical. The calculation does not indicate the pension amount. The figures illustrate the mechanism and do not predict your individual situation.

What changes depending on your situation

• Your age at which you started working : 16, 18, 20 or 21 years old, with a different grid.
• Your exact date of birth : October 1st opens the condition to 4 quarters, November 30th and December 1st 1965 are not the same age.
• The nature of your quarters : contributed, deemed to have been contributed within their limit, or redeemed.
• The effective date of your retirement : before or on or from September 1, 2026.
• Your diets : the calculation includes all schemes combined.

No results are promised: each case is verified against your career record.