Retirement file papers and common reasons for delay
The papers a State employee retirement file rests on, and why some files are delayed: age mismatches, unrecorded service, unpaid contributions.
Read →Retirement transactions
Calculating a pension in Iraq
In briefA pension is calculated under Article 21 of the Unified Pension Law No. 9 of 2014 as amended: the average functional salary of the last thirty-six months, multiplied by 2.5%, multiplied by the years of pensionable service. The pension is not paid unless service is at least fifteen years, and not before the age of forty-five, except in listed cases.
How a pension is calculated in Iraq, including a civil or early pension, is read from Article 21 of the Unified Pension Law No. 9 of 2014, as amended by Law No. 26 of 2019. The question is the formula and the conditions for payment. What counts as pensionable service is on counting pensionable service.
The wider framework is on retirement matters.
The formula: the average, the rate, and the years of service
Article 1 defines the average salary as the average functional salary over thirty-six months of the last pensionable service. Salaries for service of less than a month are not counted towards that average. Functional salary, in the same definition, is what the employee receives during pensionable service, without allowances. Allowances are therefore not brought into the average, unless a special text provides otherwise for a given category.
Article 21, Second: the pension is the product of the average salary, the number of years of pensionable service, and the cumulative rate of 2.5%. The formula in the text is: pension = average salary × 2.5 × (number of months of service / 12) / 100. A fraction of a year of not less than six months is treated as a full year for the purposes of this law, under Article 21, Third.
The pension may not exceed one hundred per cent of the last functional salary the employee received in pensionable service, unless a text provides otherwise, under Article 21, Fifth. The text also sets a minimum pension, a cost-of-living allowance and a certificate allowance; the amounts are read from the law in force when the calculation is made.
Some categories have a special rate, as an exception to the formula in Article 21, Second, including a university-service employee who meets the conditions in Article 35, Fifth. The detail is on university-service retirement. A teacher who does not fall within the description of university service is calculated under the general formula, unless another special text in force applies.
When is the pension due, and when is it paid?
Article 21, First, after the amendment: a person referred to retirement is entitled to the pension if he or she has at least fifteen years of pensionable service. The pension is not paid unless the person has reached the age of forty-five, and in all cases is not paid for the period before that age is reached, except in cases of death, martyrdom, referral to retirement for health reasons, and those referred under Article 12, Second and Third (a custodial mother under the stated conditions, and employees of loss-making self-funded companies and departments under the stated conditions). A request for referral before the legal age is a separate path, on early retirement.
If pensionable service is less than fifteen years, Article 22 points to a pension gratuity rather than a monthly pension, as set out on the pension gratuity.
For military pensioners and members of the internal security forces, Article 35, Third(b), recalculates the pension on the basis of the rank pay provided for under the Military Service and Pension Law No. 3 of 2010 as amended, and the Internal Security Forces Service and Pension Law No. 18 of 2011 as amended, and uses the last functional salary at the date of referral if it is higher than the rank pay. That is a basis for calculation, not a full account of which law applies; that is on Does the Unified Pension Law apply to military personnel? and on the Internal Security Forces Service and Pension Law.
The office follows the elements of the calculation from the referral order, the decision of Hay’at al-Taqa‘ud al-Wataniyya (the National Pension Authority), the statement of service and the average.
| Element | Basis | What is checked |
|---|---|---|
| A 36-month average without allowances | Article 1 | Salaries of the last pensionable service that are not less than a month |
| The 2.5% rate and the years of service | Article 21, Second | Months of service divided by 12 |
| A fraction of a year of six months | Article 21, Third | Whether the fraction reaches six months |
| The 100% cap of the last functional salary | Article 21, Fifth | The last functional salary in pensionable service |
| The fifteen-year requirement and the age of payment | Article 21, First | Service, age, and the written exceptions |
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
Do allowances enter the average salary?
The definition of average salary in Article 1 is based on functional salary without allowances over thirty-six months. Any exception is read from a special text in force, not from custom.
If the employee is referred to retirement before reaching forty-five?
Article 21, First, defers payment until that age is reached, and nothing is paid for the earlier period, except in the exceptions written in the same paragraph.
Is the formula for a university professor the same as for a civil employee?
The general rule is the formula in Article 21, Second. A university-service employee has a special rate under the conditions in Article 35, Fifth, so the person’s status and conditions are read from the file.
Related topics and articles
- 01What counts as pensionable service, and how is earlier service added?What counts as pensionable service under Iraq's Unified Retirement Law: contributions, military, contract and advocacy service, exclusions, transfers.
- 02Early retirement in Iraq: when can a State employee request retirement?Conditions for requesting retirement before the statutory age in Iraq under Article 12 of the Unified Retirement Law: age or service, mothers, timing.
- 03The retirement gratuity, the monthly lump sum and the end-of-service awardThe retirement gratuity, the monthly lump sum and the end-of-service award under Iraq's Unified Retirement Law: who gets each and how it is calculated.
- 04University-service retirementArticle 35, Fifth, grants an 80% pension in written cases. Professors and assistant professors have a legal-age exception in Article 2 of Law 26 of 2019.
- 05Retirement on health grounds and the medical committee in IraqWhen an Iraqi State employee is retired on health grounds: the official medical committee, effects on service and pension, work injury, the 30-day appeal.
Pension contributions and the deduction from a civil servant’s salary
Article 17 deducts 25% of salary (10% employee, 15% treasury) into the Fund. Self-funded bodies late over 6 months face a 3% monthly fine.
Read →Transferring a pension after death or between banks
After death, successors request allocation under Article 25. Shares follow Article 28. A bank change follows the Authority’s instructions, not a statute.
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