Deutsche Rentenversicherung
The Deutsche Rentenversicherung is the system of 16 carriers of the state pension insurance in Germany, though it isn't an institution in its own right, and a key component within Germany's social security system. It is set out according to the rules of the Sozialgesetzbuch, with all employees in Germany subject to the state pension insurance being mandatorily insured by DRV. The DRV offers its pension contributors and its pensioners a variety of services, including the disbursement of different types of pensions, medical rehabilitation services and advisory services. Fundamental and cross-cutting duties, such as public relations, research, statistics and the common affairs of all pension insurance carriers are carried out by the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund. By the end of 2023, the DRV counted 58.5 million insured and 21.4 million pensioners by mid-year 2024; in 2024, it spent 403 billion euros on expenditures, including 360 billion euros on pension payments.
History
The mandatory state insurance in Germany began in 1889 with the "Law regarding infirmity and old age insurance". Precursor organisations of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung and their respective responsibilities included the following:- Federal Insurance Institute for Employees : insurance of employees
- 22 state-level insurance institutes : insurance of labourers and artisans
- Federal Miners' Association : insurance of workers in the mining sectors
- Sea Insurance : insurance of seamen
- Train Insurance Institute : insurance of train and railway workers
Due to changes in the world of work, the initially small share of insured employees rapidly increased and ultimately exceeded the number of insured categorized as labourers, resulting in large differences between the numbers of insured and pensions of the pension insurance for employees and the pension insurance for labourers. To address this discrepancy, the 1992 social insurance reform unified the different regulations concerning employees, labourers and miners and ended the distinction between labourers and employees. In 2005, the BfA and VDR were fusioned into the DRV Bund and the number of regional insurance institutes reduced, while the Federal Miners' Association, Sea Insurance and Train Insurance Institute were aggregated to the DRV Knappschaft-Bahn-See. Following these reforms, the objective is for regional carriers to care for 55 % of the insured, the DRV Bund to care for 40 % of the insured and the DRV KBS to be responsible for 5 % of the insured, as a means to distribute the burden of insurance administration among the DRV carriers.
Organisation
The organisation of the DRV is characterized by the principle of self-administration, which refers to the situation wherein an administrative institution performs administrative tasks attributed to it by an administration carrier without having to follow the attributing organisation's directives or being subject to its administrative or operational oversight; by contrast, the attributing organisation may retain the responsibility of judicial oversight.Central decisions regarding fundamental and cross-cutting responsibilities are prepared by an expanded directory and are performed by organisational units within DRV Bund. These units consist of members from the self-administrations of all DRV carriers and are therefore representative of these.
The Deutsche Rentenversicherung consists of 16 legally autonomous insurance carriers, which are either active at the national level or at the regional level. In 2024, approximately 62,400 employees were employed within the Deutsche Rentenversicherung.