Many more retirees have emigrated: That’s how much retirement money is flowing abroad

In December 2022, 126,114 Swiss citizens received old-age pensions abroad. Switzerland also paid pensions to 662,685 foreign nationals residing abroad. This means that 31.5 percent of the total 1,716,000 AHV recipients live abroad.

These figures do not include children, widows, orphans and people receiving additional pensions. If you add these (15,470 Swiss, 152,026 non-Swiss), the number of people receiving pensions abroad reaches 956,295 people.

The proportion of Swiss pension recipients living abroad has almost doubled in the last 20 years. This is also much the same for foreign AHV buyers. It is impossible to say how many retirees emigrate to retire. There is no statistical data on age at departure.

BSV media spokesperson Elisabeth Hostettler notes that pension recipients living abroad do not receive anywhere near the same percentage of the total pension paid. Although 31.5 percent of AHV recipients live abroad, only 13.5 percent of the total pension volume goes to them. In 2022, retirees in Switzerland received 38.3 billion francs, and retirees abroad received approximately 6 billion francs. The reason: Pensions abroad are significantly lower due to the generally shorter premium payment period for foreign nationals.

There must be a social security agreement between Switzerland and the retiree’s home country. Otherwise the claim will be lost. Such agreements exist with 52 countries, including all EU members and countries such as Australia, Brazil and the United States. “Citizens of countries with which Switzerland does not have a social security agreement can, under certain conditions, request a refund of their AHV contributions when leaving Switzerland permanently,” says Hostettler. But such cases are relatively rare: 1,491 refunds were issued in 2023.

The average old-age pension for Swiss abroad was only 1,209 francs per month. Foreign nationals abroad received an average pension of 529 francs. For comparison: Foreign citizens in Switzerland received an average pension of 1,491 francs at the end of 2022. The minimum pension for individuals in Switzerland is 1,225 francs. The maximum pension is twice as high at 2,450. Married couples receive a maximum of 3,675 francs.

New AHV retirees who emigrate when they reach retirement age mostly move to Portugal. According to BSV’s assessment in October 2023, Thailand is the most popular country outside Europe. Of the 789,000 AHV recipients abroad, 84 percent live in Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Spain and Portugal. There are also many former cross-border travelers commuting to Switzerland from a neighboring country.

Around 9,400 more Swiss left the country in 2022 than returned here, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office (BFS). Although approximately 90,000 foreign nationals emigrated, many of them retirees returning to their home countries, the immigrant surplus was 78,000 people.