Press releases

The Finnish average pension developed positively in 2023. At the same time, total pension expenditure increased – pensions were paid out totalling almost 38 billion euros. About 1.6 million Finns received a pension in 2023.

The recently published book Understanding Finnish Pensions tells the success story of Finnish pensions. Pension are an essential part of a welfare society and play a role in everyone’s life. Yet pension are not very well known. Read more about the easy-to-understand and concise book, as well as about rehabilitation refusals, pension taxation and pension …

The majority of respondents feel that their quality of life has improved after retirement on an old-age pension, with more leisure time increases and better coping skills. However, income is perceived as weaker, according to a survey conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions among people who had recently retired from gainful employment with an old-age pension.

The assets of Finland’s earnings-related pension scheme will continue to grow moderately in the coming years but will accelerate around 2040. The upward pressure on the average contribution is around one percentage point, the Finnish Centre for Pensions estimates in a report. The new report extends the long-term projections of 2022.

Finns continue to extend their working lives. Last year, the average effective retirement age was 62.8 years. At the same time, the number of new pensioners fell significantly.

According to a recent survey of newly retired people, financial incentives have contributed to later retirement for about one third of the respondents. However, just under one third feel that employer encouragement, improved leadership skills or valuing the experience of older workers would have persuaded them to continue working.

Many persons who draw the partial old-age pension continue working as before, with-out changes to their wage level. Only every fifth person on this pension benefit seems to have cut down on working. This is evident in a recent study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

Employers who face difficulties recruiting workers are not necessarily more willing than other employers to hire persons over the age of 55. These employers invest in older workers only if they have a more positive perception of older workers than employers have on average. This is evident in a fresh research article by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

In 2022, the median insured monthly earnings of employees were 3,000 euros. For the self-employed and farmers, the median monthly insured incomes were 1,350 euros. The largest earnings were received by those in the age group 45–49 years, recent statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions reveal.

Despite the shortage of skilled workers in Finland, the country’s Government makes it difficult for (labour) immigrants to enter the country, get permanent residence and citizenship, argues Senior Researcher Pasi Saukkonen (Urban Research and Statistics Unit of the City of Helsinki). More important than the number of immigrants is their successful integration, but the Finnish Government’s cuts in social security and required resources for integration affects integration unfavourably, Saukkonen argues.