Is there scenarios today where workers can get to low or no pension after working in several countries? In effect, does national pensions for example demand that you stay in that country to get a pension.

Yes, and yes.

I have a family member who has worked in basic science in three of the four Nordic countries and (briefly) in Germany. That is to say, in public sector jobs with (supposedly, allegedly) secure pensions. They get absolutely bupkis from one of those three states, and barely a pittance from the other two.

And that's just within the Nordics. Heaven alone knows how it would work - or not, as I suspect the case may be - for someone working equal parts of his life in France, Poland and Germany...

The other way around, is there pensions that can be received after only a few years work today? Can you work a couple of years in five different countries and collect five pensions designed to cover basic costs? Does this risk punishing states with generous public pensions?

Proving a negative is always hard, but my distinct impression is no.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.