What the Two New Decrees Change for Mothers' Pensions

France has published two decrees in the Journal officiel aimed at narrowing the pension gap between men and women, who on average receive pensions 28% lower than men's, according to a 2025 report by the state research directorate DREES. Published on Friday 31 July and effective from 1 September, the measures change how motherhood affects both entry into retirement and the calculation of pension amounts for women with at least one child.

The first decree touches the majoration de durée d'assurance (MDA), the system that credits women with eight quarters per child — four for maternity or adoption and four for education. Until now these quarters were not classed as "contributed", which kept them out of the long-career scheme that allows early retirement. From September, two of the eight MDA quarters per child will count as contributed. In practice this helps a narrow group: a full-rate pension requires 172 quarters for people born in 1970, and the change lets women who started working early — five contributed quarters before age 21 — and reached 168 quarters close the gap. The government estimates it will benefit around 3% of women born that year, more than 13,000 people.

The second decree changes how the average salary behind a private-sector pension is calculated. Today it is based on the 25 best earning years of a career; from September it will be the 24 best years for a woman with one child and 23 for a woman with two or more. Removing one or two weak years from the calculation raises the average, and therefore the pension, for mothers whose earnings dipped around childbirth.

Both measures are real but deliberately circumscribed. Sandrine Guilherm, a retirement adviser at the firm Capiséo, notes that very few women qualify for the early-retirement effect, and that dropping one or two bad years "can erase a poor salary" but will not transform pension income — in her view a more ambitious reform would have taken the calculation down to the 20 best years.

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Why the Gains Are Smaller Than the Headlines Suggest

Who the MDA Decree Actually Reaches

The MDA change is a precision adjustment, not a broad fix. It only matters to mothers who meet the long-career test — five contributed quarters before age 21 — and are sitting just short of the 172-quarter threshold. For that reason the government's own estimate caps the effect at 3% of women born in 1970. The remaining six MDA quarters per child are still not treated as contributed, so the measure does not alter the retirement date of the majority of mothers, whose careers rarely produce that early burst of paid work.

The Best-Years Rule: Erasing One Low Year, Not a Career

The move from 25 to 24 or 23 best years only changes the calculation when the year removed is materially below the others — typically the year around a birth. For a mother who returned to work quickly at a similar salary, the impact is close to zero. For one who took a long break or shifted to part-time work, a single removed year cannot compensate for a decade of reduced earnings. That is the gap between the measure and the 28% average pension shortfall DREES documents: the shortfall is mostly built into the salary base, not the quarter count.

Why the Design Favours Mothers Who Never Really Left Work

The two decrees share a logic: they reward mothers whose working lives most closely resemble a man's. The MDA provision helps women who worked early and continuously; the best-years rule helps those whose interruption was brief. Women who stepped out of the labour market for years, or worked part-time for a decade, gain little from either decree — their weak years would not be the lowest one or two; they would be the norm. The government has chosen a low-cost, low-risk change; whether it moves the 28% gap materially is another question.

Who Should Check Their Pension File Before September

For mothers approaching retirement, the decrees change the arithmetic of two specific calculations. The checks below follow directly from the new rules.

  • If you were born in 1970 and had five contributed quarters before age 21, verify your quarter count in your compte retraite: at 168 quarters, the two newly credited MDA quarters close the gap to the 172 needed for full rate, allowing retirement up to two years earlier.
  • If you have one child, your pension average will now drop your worst year out of the 25 best years; with two or more children, your worst two. Identify which years fall away and what they add to your average salary — that is the size of your gain.
  • Do not assume the measures apply to everyone. The government puts the early-retirement benefit at about 13,000 women — 3% of the 1970 cohort. If you do not meet the long-career condition, this decree leaves your retirement date unchanged.
  • Effect starts with applications handled after 1 September. If your retirement file has already been approved under the old rules, ask the pension service whether the new decree changes your calculation before your first payment.