Spain expands early disability retirement list with 11 new illnesses

The Spanish government issued Real Decreto 632/2026, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 29 July and effective from 31 July 2026. The decree updates the annex to Real Decreto 1851/2009, adding eleven new pathologies to the list that qualifies workers with a recognised disability of 45 % or more for early retirement at age 56 without pension reductions. The new illnesses are: transthyretin‑related amyloidosis, myotonic dystrophy type 1 (Steinert), Huntington disease, spina bifida, Parkinson disease, corticobasal degeneration, multisystem atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, systemic sclerosis and chronic kidney disease stage G5. It also expands coverage of spinal‑cord lesions to include non‑traumatic cases.

The amendment fulfills a long‑standing demand from disability organisations, such as USO, by widening eligibility while keeping the pension amount unchanged. Critics note that the system remains burdensome, requiring separate medical verification for each condition and lacking automatic linkage to existing disability recognitions.