Topical issues

In 2026, there will be some important changes to earnings-related pensions in Finland: new age groups will reach their retirement age, pensions will accrue in the same way for everyone, and pensions can grow for one additional year. Adjustments to indexes and the life expectancy coefficient will also affect pension amounts. On this page, you will find the most significant changes at a glance.

For many years, the number of old-age pensioners has been on the rise, but now the trend has levelled off. The rising retirement age has led to a decline in the number of working pensioners. Working particularly attracts pensioners who are highly educated and have higher incomes.

In recent decades, pension reforms have been driven globally by population ageing, economic crises and transforming working lives. The goal has been to secure pension systems’ financial sustainability and pension adequacy. This new report of the Finnish Centre for Pensions presents the key trends in paradigmatic pension reforms from an international comparative perspective.

The Finnish Centre for Pensions has released a report examining the implications of the earnings-related pension reform agreed at the beginning of 2025. The reform particularly amends the investment and financing regulations of the pension scheme under the Employees Pensions Act (TyEL). The report assesses the impact of the reform using a variety of calculation methods. For the first time, the Finnish Centre for Pensions is publishing calculations based on stochastic population forecasts, as well as institution-specific projections.

In 2026, earnings-related pension contributions will change: in the future, all employees will pay the same amount in pension contribution, regardless of age.

In 2024, employees’ median monthly earnings were 3,208 euros, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2023. Despite this positive development in earnings, concerns remain over the difficulties young people are facing when trying to access the labour market. According to earnings statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, the number of new employees covered by earnings-reated pension insurance has decreased around 10 per cent annually.

The Ministry for Social Affair and Health in Finland has confirmed the life expectancy coefficient for 2026. The coefficient will cut starting pensions by nearly 5.4 per cent – more than in 2024. The pension amount is multiplied by the life expectancy coefficient at the start of retirement, that is, when the pension is granted.

Are you doing research on pensions and retirement? We offer you a chance to present your work at the second ETK Pension Research Forum webinar to a broad and international audience of pension experts, academics, stakeholders and policymakers.

This year, Finland ranked eighth in the international Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index comparison. Finland dropped one notch compared to 2024. Finland continues to be rated as having the most reliable pension system governance in the world.

Representatives from the liaison bodies of Finland and Poland met in Warsaw from 24 to 26 September 2025. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the coordination of social security and to further develop cooperation between the two countries.