The Bituach Leumi old-age pension pays a 2026 base rate of ₪1,838 a month to an individual and ₪2,762 to a couple, deposited on the 28th of each month after a health insurance deduction of ₪237 (single) or ₪340 (couple). Eligibility takes three things: Israeli residency, a qualifying period of 12 insurance years (144 cumulative months, or 60 months within the last 10 years), and, between retirement age and 70 only, gross work income under ₪10,113 a month for a single person or ₪13,484 for a couple. Pension income, Israeli or foreign, never counts. Four supplements stack on the base: a seniority increment of 2% per insurance year after year 10, capped at 50% (₪2,757 on a 35-year record); an automatic ₪103 age supplement at 80; a ₪924 spouse supplement if the spouse’s total income is ₪7,848 or less; and ₪581 per dependent child, first two only. From 70 the pension is paid in full whatever you earn.
You know the state pension exists. What you probably do not know is whether your patchy work history qualifies, what your household will actually see in the bank, and whether your salary, your rental apartment, or your American Social Security will shrink it. This page settles all of it with January 2026 figures. Your exact claiming age by birth year is its own question, answered in our guide to retirement age and Bituach Leumi in Israel; everything beyond the pension (housing, healthcare, taxes) lives in our complete guide to retiring in Israel.
Eligibility is three gates, and most people worry about the wrong one
Bituach Leumi old-age pension eligibility rests on three conditions, and all three must hold at once:
- Residency. You must be an Israeli resident. New immigrants generally need 5 years of residence or 60 months of Bituach Leumi contributions before rights mature.
- The qualifying period. 12 years of insurance contributions, counted in months (next section).
- The income test. Applies only between retirement age and 70, and only to work income. From 70, gone.
People agonize over gate 3, but gate 2 is where claims actually fail, usually for olim with short Israeli work histories. One hard cutoff to know: a man who first arrives in Israel at 62 or later (or a woman arriving after her retirement age) gets no regular pension at all. Instead there is a means-tested Special Old-Age Benefit for New Immigrants: the basic rate with no seniority increment, assessed against all worldwide income, pensions included.
The qualifying period: 144 months, cumulative, and they never expire
Bituach Leumi qualifying periods are counted in months, not calendar careers. You need 144 months (12 years) of insurance, cumulative, or 60 months within the 10 years before retirement age. A “year” is any 12 months, consecutive or not, so gaps for child-raising, unemployment, or years abroad do not erase what you banked before them.
What counts toward the 144 months:
- Salaried employment with Bituach Leumi deducted from your paycheck.
- Self-employment with contributions paid.
- Credited periods: army service, maternity leave, months on a Bituach Leumi disability benefit.
- For women: years spent single or divorced between ages 18 and 30 are credited automatically, even without employment.
Meeting the minimum gets you the full base pension. A short record only shrinks the seniority increment on top, not the base itself. Every month an oleh works in Israel counts, which is why arriving at 55 rather than 63 changes the outcome completely.
The income test: your paycheck matters until 70, your pension never does
The Bituach Leumi income test runs only in the window between retirement age and the age of entitlement (70 for men and for women born May 1950 or later). Here is what it looks at:
| Income type | Tested? | 2026 ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Salary or self-employment income (gross) | Yes | ₪10,113/month single; ₪13,484 couple |
| Rent, interest, dividends (non-work passive income) | Yes | About ₪20,226/month single (twice the work ceiling) |
| Israeli occupational pension (keren pensia, bituach menahalim, kupat gemel annuity) | No | Unlimited |
| Foreign pensions, including US Social Security | No | Unlimited |
So does work income affect the pension? Yes, but only temporarily
Work income affects the old-age pension only inside that window, and never permanently. At or under the ceiling, you get the full pension. Slightly over, and the pension is cut by 60% of the excess, down to a floor of 10% of the basic rate (about ₪184). Our estimate of what that looks like: a single 68-year-old earning ₪11,000 gross is ₪887 over the ₪10,113 ceiling, so the cut is ₪532 and the pension shrinks from ₪1,838 to about ₪1,306 a month. If earnings push the pension to zero, nothing is lost long term: each 12-month period without payment adds a permanent 5% deferral increment. From 70, the test vanishes and you can work full time on a full pension. One housekeeping rule: the self-employed keep paying contributions until the pension starts; after that, only the work-injury branch remains if they keep working.
Does pension income affect eligibility? No, with two exceptions worth knowing
Pension income does not affect old-age pension eligibility at all. A retiree drawing ₪15,000 a month from a keren pensia plus US Social Security still receives the full Bituach Leumi pension, because occupational, private, and foreign pension income is excluded from the income test by rule. The two places pension income does count: the spouse supplement test below, and the separate income supplement for low-income pensioners, which counts every shekel from every source. That benefit, and what happens to the pension when a spouse dies, are covered in our guide to the income supplement, survivor pensions, and disability benefits in Israel.
What the pension pays in 2026, household by household
Basic old-age pension amounts from 1 January 2026, after the 2.4% inflation update (per Bituach Leumi’s published rates):
| Household | Base pension/month |
|---|---|
| Individual | ₪1,838 |
| Individual, 80+ | ₪1,941 |
| Couple | ₪2,762 |
| Couple, 80+ | ₪2,865 |
| Individual + 1 dependent child | ₪2,419 |
| Individual + 2 or more children | ₪3,000 |
| Couple + 1 dependent child | ₪3,343 |
| Couple + 2 or more children | ₪3,924 |
Health insurance comes off the top before the deposit: ₪237 a month for an individual, ₪340 for a couple, ₪123 for income supplement recipients. A typical long-term resident with the full seniority increment nets about ₪2,520 a month as an individual. Our estimate for a couple in the same position: ₪2,762 × 1.5 = ₪4,143 gross, minus the ₪340 health deduction, leaves about ₪3,803 deposited on the 28th, roughly $1,268 at the ₪3.00 working exchange rate.
The four supplements, from biggest to most automatic
Seniority increment: 2% for every insurance year past year 10
Seniority increments (tosefet vatik) reward long contribution records: 2% of the base pension for each full insurance year after the first 10, capped at 50%, which takes 35 total years. Most people who spent their working life in Israel hit the cap without thinking about it. Olim rarely do:
| Insurance years | Seniority % | Individual pension/month |
|---|---|---|
| 12 (minimum) | 4% | ₪1,911 |
| 20 | 20% | ₪2,206 |
| 30 | 40% | ₪2,573 |
| 35 or more | 50% (max) | ₪2,757 |
Our estimate of the aliyah timing gap: an oleh who arrives at 50 and works to 67 banks 17 insurance years, earning a 14% increment and about ₪2,095 a month, versus ₪2,757 on a full Israeli career. That is ₪662 a month, roughly ₪7,900 a year for life, from the same base entitlement. The 5% deferral increment for working past retirement age stacks on top of seniority, and the two compound.
Age supplement: ₪103 more from the month you turn 80
Age supplements are the only part of the system with zero paperwork. On your 80th birthday month, Bituach Leumi automatically adds ₪103 a month to the base rate: ₪1,838 becomes ₪1,941 for an individual, ₪2,762 becomes ₪2,865 for a couple. Since seniority is calculated on the base rate, an 80-year-old with full seniority receives about ₪2,860 a month. The guaranteed income floors also step up at 80 for those on the income supplement.
Spouse supplement: ₪924, behind the strictest test on this page
The spouse supplement adds ₪924 a month when three conditions all hold: married at least one year; the spouse does not draw their own Bituach Leumi old-age or survivor pension; and the spouse’s total income from all sources is ₪7,848 a month or less. Unlike the main income test, pension income counts here: a spouse with an ₪8,000 company pension kills the entire supplement. It is all or nothing, with no proportional reduction, and it runs until the spouse reaches their own claiming age and files independently. The couple rate is simply this supplement baked in: ₪1,838 + ₪924 = ₪2,762.
Dependent supplement: ₪581 per child, first two only
Dependent supplements add ₪581 a month per dependent child, for a maximum of two children, no payment for a third. A child counts up to age 20, or up to 24 during IDF or national service (documented annually), and beyond that with a qualifying disability. You must tell Bituach Leumi when a child ages out. The supplements stack: a couple with two dependent children starts from ₪3,924 a month before any seniority increment.
Payment day is the 28th, and your bank account has rules
Payment dates for the old-age pension are fixed: the 28th of every month, by bank transfer only, no cash. When the 28th falls on Shabbat or a holiday, the date shifts per Bituach Leumi’s published annual calendar. The account must be in your name or held jointly with a spouse, parent, sibling, or child; change it online at btl.gov.il or with Form 7103 at any branch.
Your first payment follows a birth-date rule: born on the 1st through the 14th of the month, it arrives in your eligibility month; born on the 15th through the 31st, it arrives the following month (income supplement recipients get it in the eligibility month regardless). Kibbutz members can route payment to the collective, nursing home residents can split it with the institution, and anyone unable to manage finances can appoint a representative. Planning a long stay abroad? Tell Bituach Leumi first: payments can be suspended unless a bilateral social security agreement covers your destination.
Five terms the claim forms will throw at you
- Kitzvat zikna: the old-age pension itself.
- Tosefet vatik: the seniority increment, 2% per insurance year after year 10, up to 50%.
- Age of entitlement: the age (70) when the income test disappears and the pension is unconditional.
- Havtachat hachnasa: the income supplement, a separate means-tested top-up that counts pension income.
- Special old-age benefit: the means-tested substitute pension for olim who arrive at or after claiming age.
Before you file, check these five things
- Count your insurance months in your personal account on btl.gov.il: you need 144, cumulative, gaps allowed.
- If you are between retirement age and 70, compare gross work income to ₪10,113 (single) or ₪13,484 (couple), and decide whether to claim now or bank 5% a year by deferring.
- Add up non-work passive income (rent, interest, dividends): the ceiling is about ₪20,226 a month for a single person.
- Test your spouse’s income from all sources, pensions included, against ₪7,848 for the ₪924 supplement.
- Confirm your bank account is in your name or joint with an eligible family member, and if your total lands under the ₪4,375 monthly floor, file for the income supplement too.
Straight answers
I have exactly 12 years of contributions. Do I get the full pension?
You get the full base of ₪1,838 plus a 4% seniority increment: ₪1,911 a month. The base never shrinks for a short record; only the increment does.
Does my rental apartment reduce the pension?
Only between retirement age and 70, and only if total non-work income passes about ₪20,226 a month (single). From 70, no income of any kind is tested.
My wife receives ₪8,000 a month from her old employer’s pension. Do we get the spouse supplement?
No. The spouse test counts income from all sources including pensions, and ₪8,000 is over the ₪7,848 ceiling. Your own pension is unaffected.
I keep working full time at 72. Is my pension reduced?
No. Past 70 there is no income test. You receive the full pension alongside any salary.
I made aliyah at 64. What do I get?
A man arriving at 62 or later does not build a regular pension; he is assessed for the Special Old-Age Benefit, the basic rate with no seniority, means-tested on worldwide income. Arrive earlier and every working month counts normally.
Check the numbers yourself
All figures reflect the 1 January 2026 update (+2.4% CPI). Last verified: July 2026.
- Bituach Leumi: old-age pension rates
- Bituach Leumi: 2026 benefit update
- Bituach Leumi: eligibility ages
What the pension will not buy
Even the maximum ₪2,757 a month covers groceries and arnona, not the home you retire in. Housing is the decision that determines whether the pension is enough, and it is the one worth getting right early. If buying an apartment or house is part of your plan for retiring in Israel, tell us your budget and target cities and we will map real options against your actual retirement income, pension included.
