A piston for an internal combustion engine has shaft elements which have inner surfaces that correspond to those regions of the shaft elements in which the shaft elements are thinner than 7% of the piston diameter “D”, and have outer surfaces that define in a radially outward direction those regions of the shaft elements which, viewed in the circumferential direction, lie outside angle ranges of more than 40° on both sides of the pin bore axis. The ratio of the content of the inner surface to the ratio of the content of the outer surface is more than 60%. The shaft elements hereby become elastically compliant, which upon a temperature-induced radial expansion of the piston shaft reduces the pressure that the shaft elements exert on the cylindrical inner wall, whereby the friction losses of the piston, and hence the CO2 emission of the engine fitted are reduced.