Pension insurance takes the largest share of your social contributions: 9.3% of your gross salary, with your employer contributing another 9.3%. On a €4,000 gross salary, that's €372 per month from your pay. In return, you build up entitlements to a lifelong pension.
How much pension will you get? That depends on the earnings points you've accumulated. For an average income (2026: around €45,000), you earn one earnings point per year. On €4,000 gross per month (€48,000 annually), you earn around 1.07 points. Each point is currently worth around €39 in monthly pension. Work 40 years at an average income, and you'll reach around 40 earnings points – roughly €1,560 in monthly pension.
Reality check: the pension level is only around 48% of average income. From a €4,000 gross salary, you can expect roughly €1,500-1,700 in pension in old age (after 40 contribution years). You need to close the gap to your accustomed standard of living privately. Rule of thumb: save an additional 10-15% of your net income for retirement.