2026 Retirement Calculation: 100% Average + 60% Coefficient

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

The Social Security Reform (Constitutional Amendment 103/2019) changed how retirement benefits are calculated at the INSS (Brazil’s National Social Security Institute). Before, the system discarded the lowest 20% of your salaries.

How Was the Calculation Done Before the Reform?

Until November 2019, the INSS used the average of the highest 80% of contribution salaries since July 1994, under the earlier wording of Article 29 of Law 8.213/91 (Planalto, Law 8.213/91, 1991). The lowest 20% were thrown out, which raised the final amount.

The pension factor (fator previdenciário) or the progressive 85/95 rule (Law 13.183/2015) was then applied to that average. People who reached the required score could avoid the factor and receive the full average.

This model favored people who had periods of lower pay. The reform eliminated that possibility for anyone retiring under the new rules. However, if you had already met the requirements before 11/13/2019, you keep a vested right (direito adquirido) to the old calculation.

How Does the 100% Salary Average Work?

Article 26, paragraphs 2 and 5 of Constitutional Amendment 103/2019 provides that the current calculation takes into account all contribution salaries since July 1994 (Planalto, EC 103/2019, 2019). The lowest 20% are no longer discarded.

In practice, this means that months in which you contributed on the minimum wage, or periods with gaps between jobs, pull the average down. An insured person who alternated between high-paying and low-paying jobs will feel the impact directly in the amount of the benefit.

Have you ever thought about how that temporary job from years ago could affect your retirement today?

How Does the INSS Adjust Your Salaries?

Each contribution salary is adjusted for inflation up to the month before you file your application. The current index is the INPC (National Consumer Price Index), under Article 29-B of Law 8.213/91 (Planalto, Law 8.213/91, 1991). Salaries from earlier periods used other indexes, such as the IRSM (Minimum Wage Ratio Index) and the URV (Real Unit of Value).

The lowest 20% were thrown out, which raised the final amount.

This adjustment preserves the real value of your contributions. Without it, salaries paid in the 1990s would carry a negligible value in the current average.

What Is the 60% + 2% per Year Coefficient?

After calculating the average, the INSS applies the coefficient set out in Article 26, paragraph 2 of Constitutional Amendment 103/2019 (Planalto, EC 103/2019, 2019). The coefficient starts at 60% and increases by 2% for each year of contributions beyond 15 years (women) or 20 years (men).

To receive 100% of the average, a woman needs 35 years of contributions. A man needs 40 years. Those numbers can be daunting, but they reflect the logic of the reform: rewarding those who contribute for longer.

In practice, most of the insured people we work with retire with coefficients between 70% and 86%, rarely reaching 100%.

Practical Example of the Coefficient

Let’s take the case of Maria, who has an average of R$ 3.000,00 and 25 years of contributions:

• Starting coefficient: 60%
• Years above 15 (woman): 10 years
• Increase: 10 x 2% = 20%
• Final coefficient: 60% + 20% = 80%
• Retirement benefit amount: R$ 3.000,00 x 80% = R$ 2.400,00

If Maria had 35 years of contributions, the coefficient would reach 100% and she would receive the full R$ 3.000,00.

And what if it were a man with 25 years? The coefficient would be only 70% (60% + 5 years x 2%), resulting in R$ 2.100,00.

Which Retirement Benefits Follow This Calculation Rule?

The calculation with a 100% average and a 60% coefficient applies to all benefits granted after 11/13/2019, the date Constitutional Amendment 103/2019 took effect (Planalto, EC 103/2019, 2019). This includes retirement by age, the standard (programmed) retirement, and the transition rules.

The transition rules covered are:

• 50% toll (pedágio)
• 100% toll (pedágio)
• Progressive minimum age
• Points rule

If you completed the requirements before the reform, you have a vested right. In those cases, the old calculation (the average of the highest 80% of salaries) is usually more advantageous.

Are There Exceptions to the 60% Coefficient?

Yes. Article 26 of Constitutional Amendment 103/2019 itself provides for situations with different rules (Planalto, EC 103/2019, 2019). Public servants, permanent disability retirement, and special retirement each have their own particularities.

Permanent Disability Retirement

For permanent disability retirement (formerly called “invalidity” retirement), the coefficient is also 60% + 2% per year, under Article 26, paragraph 2, item I of Constitutional Amendment 103/2019. However, the starting point is 20 years of contributions for both men and women, with no distinction by gender.

Exception: when the disability results from a workplace accident or an occupational disease, the benefit equals 100% of the average, with no coefficient applied.

Special Retirement

Post-reform special retirement (aposentadoria especial, for people exposed to harmful conditions at work) also uses the 60% + 2% coefficient, under Article 26, paragraph 2, item II of Constitutional Amendment 103/2019. Before the reform, the insured person received 100% of the average with no reduction.

This change made special retirement significantly less advantageous. A worker with 25 years of special activity who would previously have received 100% now receives between 70% and 80% of the average, depending on total contribution time.

What Is the Practical Impact on the Benefit Amount?

The 60% coefficient reduced the initial retirement amount for most insured people, according to the INSS’s own data published in the Statistical Yearbook of Social Security (Ministry of Social Security, AEPS, 2024). Those with less contribution time are the most affected.

The main impacts are:

• Lower initial amount: insured people with 20 years of contributions receive only 60% of the average (men) or 70% (women)
• More time required: reaching 100% takes 35 years (women) or 40 years (men)
• Periods without contributions weigh more: because nothing is discarded, gaps in contributions lower the average

In our experience with retirement planning, many insured people discover forgotten employment records in the CNIS (National Social Information Registry) that can raise the average by 10% to 15%. Reviewing your social security statement is always the first step.

Tips for Improving Your Retirement Benefit

• Request your updated CNIS through Meu INSS (the INSS’s online portal and app) and check every employment record
• Simulate different retirement dates using the INSS simulator
• Consider whether contributing as a voluntary contributor (facultativo) for more months is worth it
• Check whether you have a vested right to the earlier rules
• Consider including rural or military service time, if applicable

What Does Case Law Say About This Calculation?

The STF (Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court), in a constitutional review, upheld the calculation rules of Constitutional Amendment 103/2019, recognizing the constitutionality of the 60% coefficient for triggering events occurring after the reform (STF, Case Law Portal, 2023). At the same time, it protected the vested right of those who had already met the requirements before 11/13/2019.

Decree 10.410/2020 and IN INSS/PRES 128/2022 (an INSS normative instruction) regulate the procedures. They confirm that the average must take into account all salaries since July 1994, adjusted by the INPC.

Did you know that, even with the STF’s ruling, there are legal arguments challenging the inclusion of contributions that hurt the insured person? That debate is still ongoing in the courts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the 100% salary average work for retirement?

After the 2019 Reform, the retirement calculation uses the arithmetic average of 100% of your contribution salaries since July 1994. Before the Reform, the lowest 20% of salaries were discarded. Including every salary generally lowers the final average.

What is the 60% coefficient in retirement?

The starting coefficient is 60% of the salary average for those who meet the minimum contribution time: 15 years for women and 20 years for men. For each year beyond that minimum, 2 percentage points are added. To receive 100% of the average, women need 35 years and men need 40 years.

Is it possible to exclude low salaries from the retirement calculation?

The general rule after the Reform does not allow contributions to be discarded. However, the STJ (Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice) has issued decisions allowing the exclusion of contributions that lower the average when the insured person had already met the minimum time without them. This argument may benefit people who had periods of contributions based on very low amounts.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.