Press releases

More than 60 per cent of Finns find employment-based immigration to be a good means to strengthen pension financing if so required. According to the fresh Pension Barometer, the second most popular alternative is to raise pension contributions. Most respondents object to cutting current or future pensions.

According to statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, nearly 21,000 new partial old-age pensions were paid out in Finland in 2023. The amount was one and a half times higher than the previously established amount, but 14,000 less than in 2022. The exceptional index development in 2022 encouraged people to retire early towards the end of the year.

The accrued pension increases if a person continues to work beyond their retirement age, thanks to both the increment for late retirement and the additional pension accrued for continued working.

The number of light entrepreneurs has grown rapidly in recent years. At the same time, the profile of light entrepreneurs has changed: they are increasingly younger, of foreign origin and have only a basic education. The Finnish Centre for Pensions’ study examines, for the first time, the careers, income and pension accrual of light entrepreneurs in Finland over a period of several years.

The investment year 2023 was challenging for pension funds in different parts of the world. The average real return of pension investors was less than 2 per cent. The yield of Finnish pension funds was even worse. Due to high inflation, the average real return 0.2 per cent negative. The average real return of Swedish pension funds was 1.2 per cent negative.

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.