What changed on 3 July 2024
Saudi Arabia reset its retirement ages on 3 July 2024 (27/12/1445 AH). On that day, amendments to two of Saudi Arabia’s pension laws — the Civil Retirement Law and the Social Insurance Law — took effect, and a new Social Insurance Law began to apply to people starting out after it [1][4]. The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) explains the changes on its awareness platform.
Under the existing laws, the statutory retirement age used to be 60 Hijri years for everyone. Now it turns on a snapshot taken that day: how old you were, and how many months of contributions you had. That snapshot produces some surprising results. Two people born a day apart can end up with retirement dates six weeks apart, and someone with 20 years of service can keep the old age while a younger colleague moves towards 65.
These are pension rules for Saudi nationals: the new law, for example, applies its pension branch to all Saudi employees and workers (Article 14(1)) [4]. LoopNode is not affiliated with GOSI; this guide explains the published rules in English, and GOSI’s decision on your own record is the one that counts. To apply them to your own dates, the Arabic calculator حاسبة التقاعد (taqaud.loopnode.live) shows each step.
Three groups, one test date
Two facts, both measured on 3 July 2024, decide your group: your age in completed Gregorian years and months, and the number of contribution months you had not been compensated for. Months that were already paid out to you as compensation are left out of the count [1].
Not affected
At least 48 years and 6 months old, or at least 240 uncompensated months. You keep a retirement age of 60 Hijri years.
Affected
Younger than 48 years and 6 months and fewer than 240 uncompensated months. Your age comes from the transition table, between 58 years 4 months and 65.
New law
No uncompensated contribution periods before 3 July 2024: a first job after that date, or earlier periods that were all paid out as compensation. The age is 65 Gregorian years.
Members in the first two groups stay under their existing law. According to GOSI, the retirement age and the service needed for early retirement are the only things that change for them; their other benefits continue as before [1]. The transition tables cover both the civil retirement and the social insurance systems. Someone who later joins work covered by military retirement will be covered by the existing military retirement laws [1].
Not affected: 60 Hijri years
The amendments do not apply to you if, on 3 July 2024, you had uncompensated contribution periods and either you had reached 50 Hijri years of age, or you already had 240 months of uncompensated contributions — at any age [2].
GOSI states the age test in Gregorian terms as well: 48 years and 6 months or older on that day counts as 50 Hijri years [2].
This group keeps a statutory retirement age of 60 Hijri years, and can still retire early after 300 months of contributions [2].
Affected: the transition table
If you were under 48 years and 6 months on 3 July 2024 and had fewer than 240 uncompensated months, GOSI’s transition table sets your statutory retirement age [1]. For each year younger you were, the age goes up by four months, from 58 years and 4 months to 65 years. Both columns are Gregorian, and the age is counted from your date of birth:
| Your age on 3 July 2024 | Your statutory retirement age (Gregorian) |
|---|---|
| 48 years 6 months or older | No change: 60 Hijri years |
| 48 years to under 48 years 6 months | 58 years 4 months |
| 47 years to under 48 years | 58 years 8 months |
| 46 years to under 47 years | 59 years |
| 45 years to under 46 years | 59 years 4 months |
| 44 years to under 45 years | 59 years 8 months |
| 43 years to under 44 years | 60 years |
| 42 years to under 43 years | 60 years 4 months |
| 41 years to under 42 years | 60 years 8 months |
| 40 years to under 41 years | 61 years |
| 39 years to under 40 years | 61 years 4 months |
| 38 years to under 39 years | 61 years 8 months |
| 37 years to under 38 years | 62 years |
| 36 years to under 37 years | 62 years 4 months |
| 35 years to under 36 years | 62 years 8 months |
| 34 years to under 35 years | 63 years |
| 33 years to under 34 years | 63 years 4 months |
| 32 years to under 33 years | 63 years 8 months |
| 31 years to under 32 years | 64 years |
| 30 years to under 31 years | 64 years 4 months |
| 29 years to under 30 years | 64 years 8 months |
| Under 29 years | 65 years |
Source: GOSI awareness platform, “المشمولون بالتعديلات”, checked 29 Sep 2026. Our translation; the Arabic table is the official one.
Two details are worth a second look. The first row is where the table meets the exempt group: at exactly 48 years and 6 months you are out of the table altogether. And the steps are a year wide, so one day can move you a whole row. Someone who turned 40 on 3 July 2024 sits in the “40 years to under 41 years” row and retires at 61. Someone born one day later was still 39 that day, so they fall into the next row down and retire at 61 years and 4 months.
The new law: 65
The new Social Insurance Law of 1445 AH does not apply to members who had contribution periods before it took effect for which they were not compensated [4]. Everyone else who starts civil work, in the public or the private sector, comes under it. That means people with no uncompensated contribution periods before 3 July 2024 — typically because their first job came later, but also when all their earlier periods were paid out as compensation. GOSI confirms that a member who took a single compensation payment for an earlier period will be covered by the new law, because compensated periods are not taken into account [3].
Under the new law the statutory retirement age is 65 Gregorian years for everyone, and early retirement is possible up to ten years sooner under conditions [3]. The new law also has its own pension formula; our guide to early retirement and the new-law discount covers it.
Does this apply to expats?
No. GOSI’s pension branch covers Saudi workers; non-Saudi workers are covered by the occupational-hazards branch only, so they earn no GOSI retirement pension and the retirement ages in this guide are not theirs [5][4].
Is it 55 for women?
Not since 2 August 2019. Royal Decree M/134 (27/11/1440 AH) amended article 38 of the Social Insurance Law so that the retirement age is 60 for both men and women; before that, a woman could draw a retirement pension at 55 with at least ten years of contributions [6]. The 2024 transition tables apply to women and men alike [1][6].
60 Hijri years is not 60 years
The existing laws count the retirement age in Hijri years, on the Umm al-Qura calendar, and a Hijri year is about eleven days shorter than a Gregorian one. Over sixty years the gap grows to about 21.4 months. GOSI’s own page gives the Gregorian equivalent of 60 Hijri years as 58 Gregorian years [2]; the exact figure is a little over 58 years and 2 months.
Mixing the two calendars up is a common mistake. Take someone born on 3 January 1976 who is not affected by the amendments. They reach 60 Hijri years on 22 March 2034 by our Umm al-Qura conversion — not on 3 January 2036. Converters can differ by a day at this distance; GOSI uses the Hijri birth date on your record. The new law and the transition table, by contrast, are in Gregorian years.
Three worked examples
We worked these through by hand from the rules above [1][2]. The Hijri dates use our Umm al-Qura conversion.
1 · In the table: born 10 March 1985, 215 months on 3 July 2024
- On 3 July 2024 this member was 39 years and 3 months old — below 48 years 6 months.
- 215 uncompensated months is below 240, so the amendments apply.
- The row “39 years to under 40 years” gives a retirement age of 61 years and 4 months.
- 10 March 1985 plus 61 years and 4 months.
Statutory retirement date: 10 July 2046.
2 · A day apart: born 3 or 4 January 1976, 200 months each
- Born 3 January 1976: exactly 48 years and 6 months on 3 July 2024, which counts as 50 Hijri years, so not affected. Retirement at 60 Hijri years: 22 March 2034.
- Born 4 January 1976: 48 years and 5 months, so affected. The row “48 years to under 48 years 6 months” gives 58 years and 4 months: 4 May 2034.
One day apart in birth, six weeks apart in retirement — and, as the early-retirement guide shows, 36 months apart in the service needed to retire early.
3 · Exempt by service: born 1 May 1980, 240 months on 3 July 2024
- At 44 years and 2 months, this member is young enough for the table.
- But 240 uncompensated months is enough by itself: not affected, at any age.
Retirement at 60 Hijri years: 19 July 2038.
Work out your own date. حاسبة التقاعد takes your Gregorian or Hijri birth date and your months on 3 July 2024, and shows your group, your statutory retirement date in both calendars, and the table row it used.
This guide explains GOSI’s published rules in English; it is not legal or financial advice, and our translations are not official. Your actual retirement date and pension are decided by GOSI from your own record.
Sources
- GOSI awareness platform — members covered by the amendments (effective date, who is affected, the transition tables, compensated periods, military retirement) — checked 29 Sep 2026; re-read 30 Sep 2026.
- GOSI awareness platform — members not covered by the amendments (50 Hijri years or 48 years 6 months, 240 months, 60 Hijri years ≈ 58 Gregorian years, 300 months) — checked 29 Sep 2026; re-read 30 Sep 2026.
- GOSI awareness platform — members covered by the new law (65 Gregorian years, early retirement, earlier periods already compensated) — checked 29 Sep 2026; re-read 30 Sep 2026.
- GOSI — Royal Decree M/273 and the Social Insurance Law 1445 AH, full text (the decree’s clause ثانياً(1) on who stays under the existing laws; Article 14(1), the pension branch) — read 30 Sep 2026.
- GOSI — contributor FAQ (the occupational-hazards branch covers all workers whatever their nationality; the pension branch covers Saudi workers) — checked 29 Sep 2026; re-read 2 Oct 2026.
- GOSI news, 5 August 2019 — Royal Decree M/134 amends article 38: a retirement age of 60 for men and women (before, a woman could retire at 55 with ten years of contributions) — checked 2 Oct 2026.