Flat-rate pension: Yes – AHV reform and protection against age discrimination

No to discrimination. Yes to the flat-rate pension.

Entitlement follows status, not address. A Swiss passport does not stop being valid at the border.

The people voted for the 13th AHV payment without a residence clause. Anyone who ties it to an address after the fact is overriding a popular vote – and breaking the social-security agreements in the same move. The Federal Council rejects the proposal for exactly these reasons.

And it achieves nothing. Around one seventh of total pension payments go abroad, because pensions there average 702 francs against 1,969 francs domestically. It would take something away from those who already have the least – and risk treaties on which far more depends.

AHV pensions paid abroad

A third of the pensions, a seventh of the money

Number of old-age pensions almost 1 in 3 goes abroad

Abroad

Switzerland

Total paid out 1 in 7 francs goes abroad

Abroad: 14%Switzerland: 86%

Why so little? People living abroad were often insured in Switzerland for only part of their working life. Their pension is correspondingly small.

Average old-age pension per month

In Switzerland

Abroad

The pension abroad is just over a third as large

Switzerland

Abroad

If someone in Switzerland gets 10 blocks, someone abroad gets just under 4 on average.

7 in 10 pensions paid abroad: under 1,000 francs a month

Red: under 1,000 francs. White: 1,000 francs or more.

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The real problem lies deeper

The AHV assumes 44 uninterrupted contribution years. That kind of working life is becoming rarer: fixed-term, on call, project-based, self-employed, part-time, abroad, with years of care work in between.

And the pressure is growing. Automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping whole occupations – in administration, retail, logistics, case handling. Nobody can seriously say how many jobs will disappear and how many will appear. But one thing is foreseeable: working lives will become not straighter but more broken.

On top of that comes a second shift. Three decades of globalisation are likely to be followed by 25 to 30 years of decentralisation. Where someone lives and where they work matters less and less; many jobs become location-independent. Pressure on wages then knows only one direction: down, because anyone living in a cheaper country can offer the same work for less. The passport, however, stays tied to one state - and with it the pension, which demands gap-free years in that state.

A mechanism, not an accident

The cut is not a penalty in the legal sense, just the plain result of the formula: pay in for fewer years and you automatically land on a lower pension scale. The cut is fixed once, at retirement, and stays the same for the rest of the person's life, long after the gap has stopped being the cause of anything.

How such gaps can arise is shown by the interface between two authorities. The tax administration accepts self-employment and assesses it; the commune keeps the business in its register. The compensation office, however, can refuse affiliation on the very same data. Anyone who falls between these responsibilities pays tax as a self-employed person and still ends up without a contribution year in the AHV - a gap that is held against them for the rest of their life.

A pension system that rewards uninterrupted careers and punishes every interruption for life is betting on a world of work that exists less and less. The people have not failed – the model has.

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What determines the amount

The AHV pension does not depend only on contribution years. The second factor is the average recognised annual income across an entire working life. In 2026 the minimum pension is 1,260 francs a month, the maximum 2,520 francs. The minimum is always exactly half the maximum - that has been fixed in the AHV since it was created.

The maximum pension is only reached by someone who averaged at least 90,720 francs a year, on top of a full 44 contribution years. The Swiss median full-time wage in 2024 was 7,024 francs a month, or 84,288 francs a year. That is below the threshold. Even a flawless career at the median wage, without a single gap, does not reach the maximum pension.

The bottom 10 per cent of wages in 2024 were under 4,635 francs a month. Landing there is not randomly distributed: women earn 8.4 per cent less than men on average (median), 15.7 per cent less by the arithmetic mean. Part-time and care work, carried mostly by women, lowers the average income and creates contribution gaps at the same time. Both mechanisms on this page, the gap and the low wage, structurally hit the same people.

Three examples

All three examples assume a full 44 contribution years, to show the income effect alone without mixing in the reduction from further up this page. The formula between the two knots is a simplified linear approximation of the official BSV table, not the real stepped table, and will therefore differ slightly from an official calculation.

Work it out yourself

Enter an average monthly wage and the number of contribution years, the estimate appears immediately. Same formula as the three examples above and the gap diagram.

Monthly wage (CHF)

Contribution years 44

Estimated AHV pension CHF 2’520

Note

An estimate, not a binding calculation. A binding pension forecast is available free of charge from the AHV compensation office.

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And the state looks on while the gaps appear

The AHV punishes every missing contribution year for life – but does nothing against those who cause these gaps. Anyone who loses their job after 50 searches far longer than younger people: among 50- to 64-year-olds the share of long-term unemployed is a good 20 percent. Applications are sorted out by year of birth, sometimes automatically, before a human even reads them.

Legally this has no consequences in Switzerland. There is no statutory ban on age discrimination in private employment law that would apply at the hiring stage. For gender such a ban exists – the Gender Equality Act provides up to three months' salary for discriminatory non-hiring. For age: nothing. Accordingly there are practically no court cases, not because the discrimination does not exist, but because there is no basis on which to sue.

The problem is home-made. Occupational pensions make older applicants more expensive. BVG retirement credits rise with age: 7 per cent of the coordinated salary from 25 to 34, 10 per cent to 44, 15 per cent to 54, 18 per cent to 65 (Art. 16 BVG). The employer pays at least half.

Same job, same salary of 5,000 francs a month, coordinated salary 33,540 francs:

Age	Retirement credit	Employer share per year
30	7 %	about 1,170 francs
50	15 %	about 2,520 francs

For the same work, the older person costs about 1,340 francs a year more through the BVG alone. The BVG reform that would have flattened this scale was rejected at the ballot box on 22 September 2024; the credits still apply. AHV contributions themselves do not depend on age.

The Federal Council has admitted in its own report that the current legal order does not adequately guarantee protection against discrimination. Nothing has happened since.

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Housing and pensions

A system running in circles

Switzerland is a country of tenants: only just over a third of occupied homes are lived in by their owners. Anyone who buys property only has to pay the mortgage down to two thirds of the lending value under the banks' rules. The rest may remain for a lifetime, and the tax system rewarded exactly that for decades, until the decided abolition of the imputed rental value on 1 January 2029. The debt has remained. At retirement, many banks re-check affordability, calculated with the pension instead of the salary and with an interest rate of 5%. Anyone who no longer passes this check risks having to sell in old age.

Of 10 homes, just under 4 are lived in by their owners

Owner-occupiedRented

The mortgage: two thirds stay for life

Example: a house for 1 million francs.

At purchase Debt: 800,000

After 15 years at the latest Debt: 667,000

At retirement and after Debt: 667,000

Own money at purchasePaid offDebt owed to the bank

At purchase, the bank usually lends at most 8 out of 10 francs. This debt only has to be paid down to two thirds. The rest may remain, even in old age.

On the other side stand the pension funds. More than a fifth of their assets is invested in real estate, a considerable part of it in rental flats. Tomorrow's pensions are thus paid partly from the rents of those who will later depend on these pensions themselves. As long as interest rates stay low and property values high, this cycle holds. If rates rise, as is already happening abroad, tenants, owners and pension funds come under pressure at the same time.

Tenantspay rent

Pension fundsown flats and collect the rent

Pensionsare paid partly from it

The same peoplelater depend on these pensions

35.9%Home ownership rate 2022

2/3Loan level to be paid down to, within 15 years, at the latest by retirement

21.9%of pension fund assets in real estate, end of 2024

0.00%SNB policy rate, 24.09.2026. The ECB and the Fed most recently raised theirs.

57.7%Yes to abolishing the imputed rental value, 28.09.2025, in force from 01.01.2029

29%of retirees had to sell because of retirement, according to the Wohntraumstudie 2025 (survey)

100 years of mortgage rates: today's low rates are the exception

78%of the time above 3.5% (77 of 99 years)

28%of the time at 5% or higher (28 of 99 years)

In plain words: In more than one year in four over the last 100 years, the mortgage rate stood at 5% or higher.

The 28 years at 5% or more:
1926 to 1930 (5 years)
1970 to 1977 (8 years)
1981 to 1995 (15 years)

The sources have no annual value for 2007 and 2025, hence 99 years.

The 5% the bank calculates with is no fantasy. Today: 1.31%. It has almost never been this low in 100 years.

Average mortgage rate in Switzerland

5%: the rate the bank calculates with

Peak 1992: 7.18%

Low 2021: 1.19%

Today (June 2026): 1.31%

1974 to 1975Oil crisis and high inflation: above 6%

1990 to 1992Swiss property crisis: up to 7.18%

2008 to 2021Financial crisis, then low and negative rates: from 3.33% to 1.19%

Calculated: what an interest rate shock triggers

Example: a house, mortgage paid down to two thirds, retirement ahead. The bank always calculates with 5% interest plus 1% running costs. That may be at most a third of income.

Property value

Income before retirementGross per year, household

Pension after retirementState and occupational pension, in % of salary (assumption)

Actual mortgage rateToday 1.31% (BWO). Set higher = rate shock

1. The bank's check (dashed: the one-third limit)

2. What it really costs (actual rate plus 1% running costs, relative to the pension)

3. The tenants

The reference rate follows the average of all outstanding mortgages and rises with a delay. For each 0.25 percentage points, landlords may raise the rent by 3%, provided earlier reductions were passed on.

If the rate rises to 5%

In plain words: The bank allows housing to cost at most a third of income.

If rates rise to 5%, housing costs almost half of income for one in four new mortgages. The bank can demand more repayment or decline to renew the mortgage.

Those with enough savings hold out longer.

One in four new mortgages (the most heavily burdened)

Outstanding mortgages, counting savings

The bank's limit: a third of income

Rate today: 1.31%

Rate shock: 5%

At 5%: 48% of income, far above the limit

At 5%: 32%, just below the limit

The other side: The International Monetary Fund rates banks and insurers as resilient to severe shocks, but notes that owner-occupied home prices are well above fundamentals. According to the SNB, savings considerably mitigate households' risk. And although banks can push owners to sell on affordability grounds alone, UBS says this rarely happens.

Fact check8/10

All figures sourced from official data or official studies. Nobody quantifies how many households would actually have to sell at 5%, hence not 10.

As of 12.10.2026

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How it works elsewhere

In the USA the Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits disadvantaging applicants aged 40 and over – explicitly including at hiring. Anyone who suspects they were passed over can file a complaint; the responsible agency investigates and, if necessary, sues itself.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act, USA
In 1965, Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz presented a report to Congress documenting widespread age limits in hiring. President Lyndon B. Johnson called for the law in his message on older Americans in January 1967 and signed it on 15 December 1967.

It first protected people aged 40 to 65. The limit was raised to 70 in 1978 and abolished in 1986. Enforcement lies with the federal agency EEOC.

In Florida it sued the car-rental company Enterprise because around 15 percent of applicants for trainee positions were over 40, but fewer than 3 percent of those hired. The case ended with 1.8 million dollars in compensation and a three-year set of conditions including a reporting duty on all hiring decisions.

In Switzerland the same facts would have no legal consequences. Not because they do not occur here – but because the law is missing.

That is the real double standard: we punish people for life for contribution gaps and at the same time do not protect them from those gaps arising in the first place.

Anyone living abroad can keep paying in elsewhere. Most neighbouring states allow voluntary pension contributions from abroad as well:

Country	Route	Condition	Cost
Germany	voluntary insurance, § 7 SGB VI	Germans living abroad, from age 16	from 112.16 euros a month (2026), freely chosen up to 1,571.70
United Kingdom	Class 3 Voluntary NIC	10 years of residence or 10 contribution years in the UK (since April 2026, previously 3)	18.40 pounds a week
Austria	continued insurance, § 17 ASVG	application within six months, or at any time with 60 insurance months	based on previous income
Italy	prosecuzione volontaria (INPS)	5 contribution years, or 3 in the last 5 years	based on previous income
France	assurance volontaire vieillesse (CFE)	5 years in French health insurance; joining within 10 years	by income bracket
Switzerland	voluntary AHV	only with residence outside the EU/EFTA, at least 5 uninterrupted years insured immediately before, joining within one year	based on income

Paying in voluntarily from abroad

Where it is easy and where it is not

Five checkable criteria, 0 to 2 points each. Tap for the breakdown.

1. AccessYes, Germans anywhere abroad2/2

2. Prior insuranceNone for Germans2/2

3. Deadline to joinNo deadline2/2

4. Filling gapsOnly the previous year, until 31 March1/2

5. AmountFree choice, 112 to 1,571 euros a month2/2

1. AccessYes, anywhere abroad2/2

2. Prior insurance10 years of residence or 10 contribution years (since April 2026)0/2

3. Deadline to joinNo deadline2/2

4. Filling gapsUp to 6 years back2/2

5. AmountFixed, low weekly contribution2/2

1. AccessThe law sets no residence condition2/2

2. Prior insurance12 months in the last 242/2

3. Deadline to join6 months, or any time with 60 insurance months1/2

4. Filling gapsMonths freely chosen, no long buy-back1/2

5. AmountBased on previous income1/2

1. AccessYes, also when living abroad2/2

2. Prior insurance5 contribution years or 3 in the last 51/2

3. Deadline to joinNo deadline once met2/2

4. Filling gapsBuy-back only for certain periods, such as study1/2

5. AmountAbout a third of the last salary (employees), no choice0/2

1. AccessYes, for French citizens abroad2/2

2. Prior insurance5 years in French health insurance1/2

3. Deadline to joinApplication within 10 years1/2

4. Filling gapsBuy-back of quarters, with conditions1/2

5. AmountBased on income bracket1/2

1. AccessExcluded when living in the EU or EFTA0/2

2. Prior insurance5 uninterrupted years, immediately before1/2

3. Deadline to join1 year, then never again0/2

4. Filling gapsUp to 5 years back1/2

5. AmountBased on income and assets1/2

Anyone living in an EU or EFTA country scores 0 out of 10 in Switzerland: joining is completely excluded there. Anyone already voluntarily insured who moves to the EU is expelled.

The five criteria

Access when living in another European country
Required prior insurance
Deadline for joining
Filling gaps afterwards
Choice of amount

Switzerland is thus the only country in this group that shuts its citizens living in Europe out of voluntary insurance altogether.

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Plasters have been stuck over the hole

Supplementary benefits, premium subsidies, cantonal aid, municipal grants – each with its own application, its own assessment, its own bureaucracy. Premium subsidies alone cost the Confederation and cantons 5.9 billion francs in 2023.

And it hits the financing too. The AHV hangs almost entirely on wages. When value is increasingly created by machines, software and capital while the wage share of it falls, exactly the base on which the AHV stands shrinks. Anyone who takes that seriously cannot stop at the question of whom the 13th payment could be taken from. We have to talk about what old-age provision will be anchored to in future – wages alone will not be enough.

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And a substantial part never arrives

Many who would be entitled do not apply: because of the forms, because of disclosing their assets, because of the repayment obligation from the estate that they do not want to burden their children with – and because they do not want to beg for something that is theirs by right. A welfare state that helps only those who find the right form is an obstacle course.

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For comparison: what the Confederation takes for granted elsewhere

A farm received on average 78,900 francs in direct payments in 2022. That is not a wage but compensation for public services to a business – and farm incomes are known to be low. So we explicitly do not say that farming families receive too much.

But: these contributions flow without means test, without asset limit, without proof of need. Income and asset limits once existed; they were abolished. Today payment is based largely on area – large farms receive several hundred thousand francs a year, small farms hardly anything.

When the Federal Council wanted to save 42 million on direct payments in the 2025 budget, parliament refused. The year before it was the same: 54.8 million. The same parliament is now discussing whether to cut the 13th payment for pensioners abroad.

The question is not whether agriculture gets too much. The question is why an entitlement without means test is self-evident there – and suddenly negotiable when it comes to pensions.

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The demand

Change of system! A flat-rate pension of 2,500 francs for everyone insured. The same for all, no scale, no gap penalty, no means test, exportable like any other pension. It replaces the graduated pension scale and makes most of the patchwork apparatus redundant. No application, no begging, no shame.

This necessarily includes effective protection against age discrimination in the labour market – at hiring, not only at dismissal.

This is a major reform, and it must be costed openly - with the savings on supplementary benefits and premium subsidies on one side and the financing need on the other. We will present that calculation. What we will not do: discuss cuts for the weakest while the fundamental question remains unasked.

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A concrete case: Swiss citizens abroad targeted

In August 2026, National Councillor Didier Calame (SVP, Neuchatel) filed a motion to narrow who qualifies for the 13th AHV pension: paid in future only to people whose main residence is in Switzerland. Swiss citizens living abroad, and eligible foreign nationals living outside Switzerland, would lose their claim.

Calame justifies the move with purchasing power: those living abroad face lower living costs there and should not receive the payment. The Federal Council opposes the motion. The National Council decides on it next.

Calame sits on the National Council's Foreign Affairs Committee, the body that deals with Switzerland's relations abroad, including the concerns of the roughly 838,600 Swiss citizens living outside the country. From that seat, he brings a motion to strip exactly that group of a benefit the people already voted to grant.

Swiss citizens

1 in 9 lives abroad

In Switzerland6,599,000

Abroad838,600

Where the Swiss abroad live

Country bordering Switzerland392,200

Rest of Europe146,400

Rest of the world300,000

Almost half live right next door: in Germany, France, Italy or Austria. Almost 2 in 3 live in Europe.

By profession Calame is an organic farmer who also runs a company doing sewer rehabilitation and pumping. His National Council seat, held since December 2023, is compensated at the rates set by the parliamentary services: an annual income of around 155,000 francs from the base allowance, session fees and expenses, regardless of where the recipient lives.

The contradiction is plain: securing a well-paid seat at home is one thing. From that seat, denying a pension to the Swiss citizens who represent the country abroad, worked there and paid into the system, is another. This is not a savings measure. It is a political decision about who still counts as a Swiss citizen.

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Sources

Parlament.ch, Geschaeft 26.3xxx, Motion Calame Didier, Beschraenkung der 13. AHV-Rente auf Wohnsitz Schweiz (eingereicht August 2026)
cash.ch, 13. AHV-Rente: Soll die Zahlung an Auslandschweizer gestrichen werden? (2026)
Suedostschweiz, 13. AHV-Rente: Diese Rentner sollen ploetzlich leer ausgehen (2026)
Parlament.ch, Biografie Didier Calame, Mitgliedschaft Aussenpolitische Kommission
Parlamentsdienste, Entschaedigung der Mitglieder der Bundesversammlung
BSV, Wie wird meine AHV-Altersrente berechnet (Kuerzung pro fehlendem Beitragsjahr)
Informationsstelle AHV/IV, Merkblatt 3.01, Leistungen der AHV
Koordination Schweiz, AHVG Skala 44 (Minimal- und Maximalrente 2026)
BSV, Merkblatt 3.01, Leistungen der AHV (Einkommensschwelle Minimalrente)
BFS, Schweizerische Lohnstrukturerhebung 2024, Medienmitteilung 25.11.2025 (Medianlohn, Tieflohn-Dezil)
BFS, Lohnunterschied zwischen Frauen und Maennern anhand der LSE 2024, 31.08.2026
Art. 16 BVG, Altersgutschriften - BSV, Masszahlen berufliche Vorsorge 2025/2026 (Koordinationsabzug 26 460 Franken)
Volksabstimmung vom 22.09.2024, BVG-Reform - Bundeskanzlei, Resultate
Deutschland - Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Aenderungen zum 1. Januar 2026 (freiwillige Versicherung)
Vereinigtes Koenigreich - GOV.UK, Voluntary National Insurance if you live or work abroad (ab 6. April 2026)
Oesterreich - ASVG Paragraf 17, Weiterversicherung in der Pensionsversicherung
Italien - INPS, prosecuzione volontaria (Legge 1338/1962), Fachpublikationen 2026
Frankreich - Caisse des Francais de l'Etranger, assurance volontaire vieillesse
Schweiz - AHVG Art. 2, freiwillige Versicherung
Frankreich - Assemblee nationale, Antwort der Regierung zur Frage 89835 (Bedingung 5 Jahre)
FSO, Statistical Atlas, home ownership rate 2022
FINMA, recognition of the SBA minimum requirements for mortgage financing
Federal Council, decision of 01.04.2026 on the entry into force of the abolition of the imputed rental value
FSO, pension fund statistics 2024, final results
SNB, monetary policy assessment of 24.09.2026
SNB, Financial Stability Report 2026
SNB, Historical time series 4, interest rates and yields
FOH, mortgage reference rate and average rate
IMF, Article IV Switzerland 2026, Concluding Statement of 25.06.2026
Moneypark and Helvetia, Wohntraumstudie 2025
Beobachter, So bleibt das Haus im Alter tragbar
UBS, Hypothek im Alter
FSIO, Social Security CHSS: average 13th AHV pension, AHV statistics 2025
ECB, euro reference rates of 09.10.2026
SBA, guidelines on minimum requirements for mortgage financing (recognised by FINMA)
FSO, population of Switzerland at end-2025, press release of 20.08.2026
FSO and FDFA, Swiss abroad statistics end-2025, press release of 31.03.2026
German Pension Insurance, voluntary contributions 2026
HMRC and GOV.UK, voluntary National Insurance from abroad, changes from 6 April 2026
L'Assurance retraite, retirement information for expatriates
AHVG Art. 16, back payment of contributions
Federal Administrative Court, judgment C-1708/2017 of 28.02.2019
U.S. Department of Labor, Taking Aim at Age Discrimination
Congressional Research Service, Report 97-479, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Parliamentary Services, 2025 budget: National Council 04.12.2024 and Council of States 09.12.2024
BauernZeitung, no cuts to direct payments (2024 budget)

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TS120

Fact check7/10

Figures sourced. The announced calculation for the 2500-franc flat pension is missing from the page.

As of 21.09.2026