Expatrimony.

🇳🇱 Netherlands · Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB)

How to get your Dutch AOW overview

Time
About 10 minutes online with DigiD or eIDAS; a few weeks if you request it by phone or post
Cost
Free
You need
DigiD (if you still have one or can still activate it) — or an EU/EEA national eID for the eIDAS route · Your BSN (burgerservicenummer), if you know it — helpful but not required for a postal/phone request · For the postal/phone route: your full name, date of birth, and roughly when and where in the Netherlands you worked
Open Mijn SVB ↗
Before you start

Before you start: DigiD, an EU eID, or neither?

Which login route you take is the one decision that shapes the rest of this — and if you've already left the Netherlands, it's worth ten seconds of thought before you start clicking, because DigiD is far easier to sort out while you still have a Dutch address than after.

DigiD is the default and the one most services assume you have. It's tied to your BSN and, for the app-based login most people end up using, generally needs a Dutch mobile number at setup. If you still have an active DigiD from when you lived or worked in the Netherlands, use it — skip to the DigiD step below.

If you're an EU/EEA citizen and never got a DigiD (or it's lapsed and you can't reactivate it from abroad), the Dutch government's login screens support signing in with a European-recognized login method instead — your own country's eIDAS-notified eID (e.g. Germany's Online-Ausweis, Belgium's itsme, or an EU Digital Identity Wallet once live) works directly on the same DigiD-branded sign-in page, without ever needing a Dutch credential.

If neither applies — no DigiD, not an EU/EEA citizen, or your eID isn't eIDAS-notified — the online route is closed to you, but that's not a dead end. SVB's international office handles exactly this by phone or post, and critically, does NOT require a BSN or DigiD to send you your AOW overview.

If it doesn't look like this

What exactly does the AOW overview show, and is it the same as MijnPensioenoverzicht.nl?

The Mijn SVB AOW overview is specifically your state-pension (AOW) percentage and insured years — the number this app reads. MijnPensioenoverzicht.nl is a separate, broader register that aggregates your AOW together with any Dutch workplace/occupational pension (tweede pijler) in one combined view. Useful for the full retirement picture, but the AOW-specific figure comes off the SVB overview, and MijnPensioenoverzicht.nl itself requires the same DigiD-or-eIDAS login underneath.

I don't know my BSN

It isn't a blocker either way. Online, DigiD carries your BSN once you're logged in, so you don't need to type it. For a postal or phone request, SVB can locate your record from your name, date of birth, and roughly when/where you worked in the Netherlands — the BSN just speeds things up if you happen to have it on an old payslip or residence document.

How will you get your overview?

Pick the route that matches what you actually have. The two online routes rejoin at the same place; the phone/post route runs separately and ends with the overview arriving by mail instead of on screen.

1a few minutes

Log in to Mijn SVB with DigiD

Go to svb.nl, choose 'Inloggen' / 'Log in', and select DigiD. Enter your username and password, then approve the login in the DigiD app on your phone (or enter an SMS code, if that's how your DigiD is set up).

This is the most direct route and needs nothing further to activate — if your DigiD still works, you're straight into your account.

If it doesn't look like this

My DigiD app is on a phone number I don't use anymore

You can usually update your registered mobile number inside the DigiD app if you can still log in another way (e.g. with your DigiD username/password plus SMS to the old number one last time). If you're locked out entirely — old number gone, no other login method active — reactivating from abroad is genuinely awkward, and the eIDAS or phone/post routes below are the realistic fallback.

My DigiD has expired or was never activated

DigiD accounts issued by post need an activation code sent to a Dutch address, which is impractical once you've left. If you're an EU/EEA citizen, switch to the eIDAS route — same sign-in screen, different login method. If not, use the phone/post route.

1a few minutes

Log in with your EU/EEA eID via eIDAS

On the same DigiD-branded sign-in screen, look for 'Inloggen met een Europees erkend inlogmiddel' (log in with a European-recognized login method). Select your own country, and you're routed to your national eID provider to authenticate — the same way you'd log in to a government service at home.

This works for any EU/EEA citizen holding an eIDAS-notified national eID (Germany's Online-Ausweis, Belgium's itsme, Estonia's ID-kaart, and equivalents) and reaches the identical Mijn SVB account DigiD would — no Dutch document ever enters the picture.

If it doesn't look like this

My country isn't in the list, or my eID isn't accepted

Only eIDAS-notified schemes are accepted, and not every EU/EEA country has one live for every assurance level. If your national eID doesn't work, fall back to the phone/post route — it needs no online identity of any kind.

110 minutes to send; a few weeks to arrive

Request your AOW overview by phone or post

You don't need DigiD, an EU eID, or even a BSN to get your AOW overview. Contact SVB's international office (SVB Buitenland, based in Roermond) by phone or post and ask for a written overview of your AOW-insured years.

Give your full name, date and place of birth, and roughly when and where in the Netherlands you lived or worked — that's generally enough for SVB to locate the record even without a BSN. It's slower than the online route: expect a written reply by post rather than an instant screen.

This is also the right route if you're applying for AOW itself from abroad rather than just checking your build-up: SVB explicitly handles AOW applications for people who no longer live in the Netherlands, without requiring DigiD.

If it doesn't look like this

I don't know exactly which years I was insured

You don't need to know in advance — that's what you're asking SVB to confirm. Give your best recollection of employers and rough dates; they check it against their own records and reply with the actual insured periods, gaps included.

2under a minute

Open your AOW overview

Inside Mijn SVB, open your AOW overview. It shows the percentage of a full AOW pension you've built up so far and the insured years that produced it — each insured year is worth 2%, up to 100% at 50 years.

Any year you lived or worked outside the Netherlands during the roughly age-17-to-AOW-leeftijd window shows as a gap — a real reduction, not a data error. If a year you know you were insured for is missing, that's worth a follow-up query to SVB before you rely on the figure.

For the fuller picture — this AOW percentage together with any Dutch workplace pension you built up — MijnPensioenoverzicht.nl aggregates both in one view, using the same DigiD/eIDAS login.

If it doesn't look like this

The percentage looks lower than I expected

AOW only accrues for years you were insured — generally years spent living or working in the Netherlands. A few years on a Dutch payroll legitimately produces a small single-digit percentage; that isn't a fault in the record, it's the whole system being strictly per-year.

What happens next

Whichever route you took, you now hold the Dutch half of your cross-border pension picture: the insured years AOW is built from. Keep the figure — the percentage grows every year you're insured, so treat today's number as a snapshot, not a final answer.

AOW is unusual among the systems this app models: there's no minimum insured period to clear. Ireland needs 10 years, the UK needs 10, Germany needs 5 — miss the threshold and you need EU or US totalization just to get anything at all. AOW has no such gate: even a single insured year pays a small pro-rata pension on its own. So if you're checking this because you only worked in the Netherlands briefly, the honest news is you're not at risk of getting nothing — you're just confirming a modest, exactly-proportional figure.

Where cross-border coordination DOES matter for AOW is the other direction: your Dutch insured years count toward OTHER countries' minimums. If you also worked in Ireland, the UK, France, Germany or elsewhere in the EU/EEA, those years pool together under EU Regulation 883/2004 (and the equivalent UK–EU protocol) to help you clear whichever country's threshold is highest — Netherlands supplies its years to that pool the same as everyone else, even though it never needs to borrow any back for itself. Separately, the Netherlands–US Totalization Agreement (in force since 1 November 1990) lets Dutch insured years and US Social Security credits be combined bilaterally.

You don't have to coordinate any of this yourself. When you eventually claim, the pension institutions exchange records with each other directly — you just need each country's own overview to be accurate first, which is what this walkthrough gets you.

If it doesn't look like this

I only worked in the Netherlands for a year or two — is it even worth claiming?

Yes, for AOW specifically — unlike a points or threshold system, there's no minimum below which the Dutch state pension pays nothing. A couple of insured years produces a small but real pro-rata AOW (roughly 2% of the full rate per year), payable worldwide at the AOW-leeftijd regardless of where you end up living.

Do my Dutch insured years help me qualify in another country even though I don't need them myself?

Yes. The EU883 pool (and the equivalent UK protocol) sums every member country's insured years when testing whether YOU clear a given country's minimum — it doesn't care that the Netherlands itself has no minimum to clear. Your Dutch years sit in that pool exactly like anyone else's.

Got your AOW insurance-years overview (AOW-opbouwoverzicht)?
Upload it to Expatrimony and your cross-border pension picture updates instantly - verified, not estimated.
Upload on your dashboard →Open Mijn SVB ↗

Questions people actually ask

How do I get my AOW overview from the SVB?

Log in to Mijn SVB at svb.nl with DigiD, or with your own EU/EEA country's eIDAS-recognized eID if you don't have DigiD, and open your AOW overview. It's free and shows immediately. Without either, request the same overview by phone or post from SVB's international office (SVB Buitenland) — no BSN or DigiD required.

Is there a minimum number of years to get any AOW pension at all?

No. AOW is unusual among European state pensions in having no minimum insured period — every insured year is worth 2% of the full pension (50 years = 100%), and even one year alone pays a small pro-rata amount. Contrast Ireland and the UK (both 10-year minimums) and Germany (5 years), where falling short means nothing at all unless EU or US totalization rescues you.

What's the difference between Mijn SVB and MijnPensioenoverzicht.nl?

Mijn SVB shows your AOW specifically — the state pension percentage and insured years. MijnPensioenoverzicht.nl is the national pension register that aggregates AOW together with any Dutch workplace pension in one combined view. Both use the same DigiD/eIDAS login; the AOW figure itself comes from the SVB side.

Can I check my AOW record without DigiD?

Yes, two ways. If you're an EU/EEA citizen, the DigiD sign-in screen also accepts eIDAS-notified logins from your own country — no Dutch credential needed. If neither DigiD nor an EU eID applies to you, SVB's international office will send you a written AOW overview by phone or post request, without requiring a BSN or DigiD.

How many insured years count toward a full AOW pension?

50 years, generally from roughly age 17 to the AOW-leeftijd (67 in 2026 and 2027), each worth 2% of the full single-person rate. Years spent living or working outside the Netherlands during that window are gaps, each a permanent 2% reduction — not something that can be bought back the way UK or Irish voluntary contributions can.

Do my years working in the Netherlands help my pension in another EU country?

Yes. Under EU Regulation 883/2004, insured periods across every EU/EEA member (and, via a parallel post-Brexit protocol, the UK) pool together to test whether you clear any one member's minimum qualifying period. Netherlands supplies its insured years into that pool like every other member, even though — uniquely among the countries modeled here — it never needs to borrow years back to qualify on its own record.

Is there a Netherlands–US agreement too?

Yes — the Netherlands–US Totalization Agreement has been in force since 1 November 1990. It lets Dutch AOW-insured periods and US Social Security credits be combined bilaterally to help clear either country's qualifying threshold, separately from the EU pool.

Official sources

Last checked against the live portal on . Government portals get redesigned without notice - if a screen here no longer matches what you see, trust the portal, not us. This guide is independent and is not affiliated with the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB).