Retiring in Lithuania is a legitimate plan, if a less common one. The legal side is simple for Europeans: you need resources and health cover. The part to prepare is the health cover, because a retiree who is inactive and has no S1 pays the contribution alone.
This article covers retiring in Lithuania as a foreign pensioner, and the Lithuanian pension for those who worked there.
What do you need to retire to Lithuania?
Sufficient resources and health insurance. Before leaving, ask your pension or health fund for an S1, if you receive a pension from your home country and none from Lithuania: you will be treated in Lithuania at your country's expense. After three months, register your stay with the Migration Department (residence in Lithuania). The minimum indicated for resources is €233 a month per person, assessed case by case.
Then declare your address, register the S1 with a territorial health insurance fund (teritorinė ligonių kasa) and sign up with a family doctor (healthcare in Lithuania). Pensions from EU, EEA and Swiss countries continue to be paid when you settle in Lithuania.
What is the Lithuanian retirement age and pension?
The legal age is 65 for women and men in 2026, after a gradual rise since 2012. A Sodra pension needs at least 15 years of insurance; a full pension takes 34 years and 6 months in 2026, and 35 in 2027.
The pension has two parts (Sodra, 2026 values):
- General part: the basic pension (€327.91) times your years divided by the required years (34.5 in 2026).
- Individual part: your points times the point value (€8.11). A year of contributions on the average wage gives one point, with at most five a year.
Both values are indexed each 1 January, and Sodra calculates your own amount from your record.
The IOM gives an average old-age pension of €750 a month and €810 for a full career (undated page, presented as 2026). A social assistance pension for older people without sufficient rights is €261 a month (€391.50 at coefficient 1.5), according to the Commission's July 2026 guide.
Wondering whether to ask for an S1, how your career in several countries adds up, or which tax treaty applies to your pension? Moovy can set out the steps for your own situation and prepare the request to the right fund.
Can you retire early or later?
Early old-age pension: at the earliest five years before the legal age, if you already have the required insurance of the year you reach it, with no work or other professional income. It is reduced by 0.32% for each month remaining. A deferred pension raises the amount by 8% for each full year, up to 40%. The deferral rules were changed in 2026: ask Sodra whether a late application now counts as a deferral in your case.
If you receive a Sodra old-age pension and your pensions, foreign ones included, stay below the minimum consumption need set by the state each year, Sodra can pay a supplement. With a pension from another country, Sodra asks for proof of its amount.
How do your years in several countries count?
Totalisation serves to open the right, not to raise the amount. Each country then pays its share in proportion to your years there. If you worked in several EU countries, one application is enough, to the institution of the country where you live or where you last worked: it forwards the request to the others. Ask for information at least six months before retirement. At the end, a P1 form summarises the pension decisions of each country.
How are pensions taxed?
According to the EU tax database (1 January 2026, data supplied by Lithuania), pensions and pension annuities are not subject to personal income tax. The exception: benefits from supplementary pension funds that gave a tax reduction are taxed at 15%. If you are a Lithuanian tax resident, your foreign pension also falls under the tax treaty with your country, which may reserve the right to tax to your home country, common for civil service pensions. On the Lithuanian side, the income tax law lists among non-taxable income the pensions paid from Lithuanian public funds and from public funds of foreign states, so a pension from another country's public scheme is exempt. A private or occupational pension from abroad is not named there: confirm it with the VMI (income tax in Lithuania).
A pensioner who also works on their own may be exempt from social contributions (VSD) on the activity, but not from health contributions (self-employed in Lithuania).
What about British pensioners?
Those outside the Withdrawal Agreement rely on the social security protocol of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: rules close to the EU's, but not identical. According to the NHS, a UK State Pension holder who lives in an EU country may be entitled to a UK S1; totalisation of contributions is to be confirmed with Sodra and the UK International Pension Centre. Your UK state pension keeps being uprated if you live in the EEA (GOV.UK). You also need a residence permit (moving to Lithuania from the UK).
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Arriving without an S1 or insurance.
- Thinking foreign years raise your Lithuanian pension.
- Forgetting the tax treaty.
- Leaving your address declared when you leave, which can keep health contributions running.
What are the steps for retiring in Lithuania, in order?
- Before leaving, request your S1 from your pension or health fund if you draw a pension and have no Lithuanian one.
- Move, then register your stay after three months with the Migration Department, showing resources and health insurance.
- Declare your address (moving to Lithuania).
- Register the S1 with a territorial health insurance fund and sign up with a family doctor.
- Keep your foreign pension paid into your account or have it paid in Lithuania.
- If you worked in Lithuania, apply to Sodra for your pension, three months before your legal age at the earliest.
- Check your tax position against the treaty with your home country.
Which documents will you need for retiring in Lithuania?
An ID, the S1, proof of resources such as pension statements and, for a Lithuanian pension, proof of your insurance periods before 1994 and career statements from other countries. A P1 form summarising the pension decisions of each EU country is issued at the end of the procedure.
What if you work in retirement?
If you receive an old-age or invalidity pension, even from another EU country, the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, or have reached retirement age, you may be exempt from social contributions on an individual activity. The health contribution is not covered by the exemption. If you keep contributing after retirement, your Sodra pension is recalculated each year automatically.
What about the second pillar?
People who joined the second pillar before 2026 can leave it between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2027, according to the Commission guide. If you are affected, ask Sodra or your pension fund before the deadline.
Before you decide, have your pension confirmed by Sodra or the fund that pays you, and your tax position by the VMI or a tax adviser.