Greek pensioners to receive full increases after 15 years

In January 2027, 671,586 retired people in Greece will begin receiving the full amount of their pension increases, after fifteen years without them. These pensioners previously saw only half of their increase in 2026, with the remainder held back by a system called “personal difference.”

This “personal difference” functioned as a limit on increases for many older pensioners who retired before the Katroungalos Law came into effect.

The system reduced the amount of any increase by offsetting it against this pre-existing difference in calculation. As a result, many pensioners did not see any real change in their monthly payments despite increases to pensions between 2023 and 2025. From 2010 to 2022, pensioners did not receive any increases at all, meaning this group had effectively gone fifteen years without a raise.

The Ministry of Labour reports that around 800,000 pensioners either did not receive or only partially received increases in recent years because of this offsetting system. Starting in 2027, the offsetting system will be fully removed, meaning the “personal difference” will no longer affect the amount of annual increases. While the “personal difference” will still appear on pension statements, it will remain frozen at its current level and will no longer be deducted from payments.

Pension increases for 2027 are estimated to be between 2.6% and 2.7%, and will be fully distributed to all approximately 2.6 million pensioners.