Topical issues

The rising retirement age has led Finns to work longer. The employment rate among 63–64-year-olds has risen considerably. High earners tend to continue working beyond the minimum retirement age for an old-age pension.

The average total pension has risen by around 50 per cent in real terms over the past 30 years. Yet behind this average are three very different groups, with substantial differences in both pension levels and how these have changed over time.

Were you born in 1965? You can start drawing an old-age pension at 65 and a partial old-age pension at age 62 at the earliest. Your age group is the first to have its retirement age linked to life expectancy.

In 2025, employees’ median monthly earnings in Finland were €3,320. Women’s median monthly earnings were 16% lower than men’s. Recent statistics published by the Finnish Centre for Pensions shows that the relative gap in earnings between men and women has narrowed slightly.

The 2026 labour years ratio is 0.60. Compared to the previous year, the labour years ratio increased by 0.6 per cent and compared to 2005, by 5.7 per cent.

The revision of the EU social security regulations aims to update the rules on social insurance for people working abroad and the application process for A1 certificates, as well as to strengthen cooperation between the relevant authorities.

Finnish Parliament has approved a transitional provision under which partial old-age pensions will not be considered in the means testing for the general social security benefit if the pension decision was issued before 1 May 2026. Parliament broadened the transitional provision beyond what the Government had originally proposed.

An amendment of the earnings-related pension index results in an increase of around 52 euros for a gross monthly pension that is around 2,000 euros. Every year, pensions in payment are adjusted with the earnings-related pension index to help maintain purchasing power.

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

Finland was again rated as having the most reliable pension system governance in the international Marsh CA Institute Global Pension Index comparison. Although its total score improved slightly this year, Finland dropped one notch to 9th place. The other Nordic countries also scored well in the comparison.