Added 16 Oct 2026, 4-minute read

Check your Czech pension record: missing years can mean thousands less a month

Your Czech pension is based on the years recorded by the Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ) and on your earnings. But ČSSZ does not know about everything: study, military service or childcare are often missing until you prove them. Checking takes a few minutes and you can do it from home.

What it means in money

Prove your study, military service or care for a child or a relative, and your pension goes up. Every proven year means a higher pension every month, for the rest of your life.

A real case: after proving study from age 18 to the end of 2009 (grammar school and university, about five and a quarter years, of which just under four were counted), the estimate in the ČSSZ pension app rose by several thousand CZK a month. It will be different for everyone, depending on your earnings and on when and how long you studied.

What it means for you: in the ČSSZ pension estimate app (in Czech) you enter the missing periods and immediately see a new pension estimate.

For a regular pension you also need 35 years of insurance, work and substitute periods together. If you are close to that threshold, every missing year also decides whether and when you reach a pension.

Step 1: check your record

Log in to the ČSSZ ePortal and open Moje konto (My account, in Czech). You will see the periods ČSSZ has on record.

Step 2: look for what is missing

ČSSZ does not have some periods because nobody sent them. Go through the record year by year and look mainly for:

• Study after age 18 until the end of 2009. Secondary school, college or university, even unfinished. At most 6 years count, at 80%. If your studies continued into 2010, only the part up to 31 December 2009 counts. Later study does not count, except for a first completed full-time doctoral programme.
• Military or civilian service.
• Caring for a child under 4. Proven only when you apply for a pension, with a declaration.
• Caring for a person who needs help (care allowance at level II to IV, or level I for a child under 10). Proven by a decision of the district social security office.
• Registration at the labour office. Time with unemployment benefit always counts, without benefit only in a limited way.
• Missing years of employment. Usually the employer did not send the record sheet. Any district social security office can help.

Step 3: add what is missing

• Get a document. For study, a school-leaving certificate, a student record book, a diploma or a confirmation of study you request from the school is enough.
• Send it. In Moje konto you add the missing period and upload the document, or you take it to any district social security office. Once processed, the period appears in your record.

Do not wait until retirement. Documents are easier to get while schools and archives are around.

What does this have to do with your pay?

Only what is on your payslip counts towards your pension, not cash on the side. And every raise also means a slightly higher pension. Why it pays to have more on your payslip · How to ask for a raise