Pensions in the Netherlands to increase by up to 8 percent with new system

The first pension funds that switched to the new Dutch pension system at the beginning of 2025 are set to yield positive results. Pensioners with these funds will receive 4 to 8 percent more.

First results of new Dutch pension system are positive

In January this year, 200.000 participants - 65.000 of whom are pensioners - in three pension funds made the transition to the Netherlands’ new pension system. Also known as the Future Pensions Act, the new system has individual pension funds for each customer instead of one centralised fund. The pension amount with the new system also depends on the returns achieved on investments.

According to Annette Mosman, director of Dutch pension provider APG, the first results are satisfactory. "I am proud of this moment," Mosman told AD. "The 65.000 pensioners have all received the correct pension on time."

Thanks to the new system, pensions will increase by 4 to 8 percent, something that chairman of the Pension Federation Ger Jaarsma believes would not have been possible without the switch. "In the old system, pension funds had to maintain large buffers. In the new system, that is not necessary, so the money can be distributed sooner to the participants and pensioners."

Complete transition to new pension system to take years

With over 1,5 trillion euros in pension assets in the Netherlands needing to be redistributed over millions of individual pension pots, transitioning to the new system is a herculean task. For this reason, employers have until January 1, 2028, to comply with the new regulations.

While the move to the new pension system was fruitful for the three pension funds at APG, this does not mean all pensions will see the same increase, as it depends on how much capital a fund has at the time of transition and how high the interest rate is. The more money is in the fund and the higher the interest rate, the better the results will be.