Earnings-related Pension Recipients in Finland
This statistics provides an overview of the Finnish earnings-related pension system. The statistics includes the key figures for all new retirees and retired persons on an earnings-related pension in Finland.
The statistics is released once a month. Year-level data is released three times a year. Check the Release Calendar for more detailed information on the release time.
Monthly statistics
The Monthly statistics includes the most recent data on Finnish earnings-related pension recipients. The statistics include data on a monthly level of pension recipients, average pensions, pension expenditure and new retirees in the earnings-related pension system.
Growth in number of old-age pension recipients halted in 2023
At year-end 2023, a total of 1,346,000 persons received an earnings-related pension in one’s own right. Of them, 55 per cent were women and 45 per cent men. The figures do not include partial old-age pension recipients.
At the end of 2023, there were around 400 fewer people receiving an earnings-related old-age pension than in the previous year. This was the first time in the 2000s that the number of old-age pension recipients has halted compared to the year before.
Over the last 10 years, the number of old-age pension recipients has grown by around 14 per cent. In 2014, they numbered just under 1.2 million persons while in 2023, they numbered nearly 1.35 million.
Measured by gender, women outnumbered men. In 2023, 741,000 (55%) women and 605,000 (45%) men received an old-age pension. Since the beginning of the review period (2014), the gender gap has remained nearly unchanged.
The average age of old-age pensioners has changed over the years. In 2023, the average age of pensioners with an old-age pension was 75.3 years (76.0 years for women and 74.6 years for men). In 2014, it was 73.9 years (74.7 for women and 72.9 years for men).
(Updated on 26 June 2024)
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Number of persons retiring on a disability pension unchanged in 2023
In 2023, a total of 17,700 persons retired on a disability pension from the earnings-related pension system. This was about the same number as in 2022. Of the new pensioners, 9,300 were women (52%) and 8,400 men (48%).
The main causes of disability were musculoskeletal diseases (32%) and mental and behavioural disorders (32%). All other main categories of illnesses accounted for less than 10 per cent each.
In the earnings-related pension scheme, the disability pension can be granted either as a full pension or as a partial pension. In 2023, about 26 per cent of all disability pensions granted were partial pensions. This was a significant change compared to 2022, when the share of partial disability pensions was 31 per cent of all disability pensions granted.
In 2023, about 4,600 persons received a partial disability pension. Almost half (47%) of all new partial disability pensioners retired because of musculoskeletal diseases. Mental and behavioural disorders were the second most common cause (23%).
The situation was reversed for full disability pensions. Most of the new recipients of a full disability pension retired due to mental disorders (35%) while the second most common cause was musculoskeletal diseases (26%).
(Updated on 7 Mar 2024)
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57,600 persons retired with an earnings-related pension in 2023
In 2023, there were 57,600 new retirees on an earnings-related pension, which is 20 per cent less than in the previous year. The decrease is almost entirely due to those retiring on an old-age pension. In 2023, a total of 40,000 insured persons retired on a full old-age pension.
The number of people retiring on a disability pension was 17,700, the same as in the previous year. This figure may be considered low because, since the 2017 pension reform, disability pensions have also been granted to people aged 63 and over. In 2023, around 1,700 of them received a disability pension. This number has increased year on year.
Last year, 21 000 insured persons opted for a partial old-age pension. This is the second highest number in the history of this pension benefit. The highest number was recorded in the previous year, when an exceptional rise in the index led 35,000 insured persons to take up the benefit. In the statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, those who have taken up a partial old-age pension are not counted as retired.
As in 2022, the most common retirement age was 64, with almost 27,000 people retiring at that age. The minimum retirement age was 64 years and 3 months for those born between 1 January and 30 September 1959. The minimum retirement age has now risen by more than a year from the pre-reform age of 63.
(Updated on 14 Feb 2024)
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Tables in statistical database:
- The monthly statistics on earnings-related pension recipients
- Number of earnings-related pension recipients
- Number of new retirees on earnings-related pension
- Size of earnings-related pension recipients’ pension
- Size of pension of new retirees on earnings-related pension
- Disability pension incidence rate
- Recipients of earnings-related pension living abroad
Tables and graphs in Key Figures:
Statistical services provides further information:
Earnings-related pension recipients in Finland
Producer: Finnish Centre for Pensions
Website: Earnings-related pension recipients
Subject area: Social security
Part of the Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
Description
The statistics offers a general overview of all earnings-related pension recipients in Finland.
Data content
The statistics includes central data on all earnings-related pension recipients, new retirees on an earnings-related pension and the earnings-related pension expenditure in Finland.
Categorizations
private and public sector, pension benefit, gender and age, pension amount, disease classification ICD-10; regional classification: municipality, province, country of residence
Methods of data collection and source
The data on earnings-related pension recipients, new retirees and earnings-related pension expenditure are based on the pension register.
The regional data presented in the statistics are based on the population data of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, supplemented with data on earnings-related pensions taxable at source and paid abroad, as reported by the pension providers.
Update frequency
The more restricted statistics Earnings-related Pension Recipients in Finland is released once a month. The more comprehensive statistics Pensioners in Finland is released once a year.
Time of completion or release
The monthly statistics is released by the middle of the following month and the annual statistics in the autumn of the year following the statistical year. For a more detailed schedule, consult the Release Calendar.
Time series
The statistics has been produced since 1996. In 2005-2013, the statistics was published under the name Pensioners and Insured in Finland.
The Quality Description of the statistics (section “Coherence and comparability of data”) includes more detailed information on the comparability of the time series.
Key words
Social insurance, pension, earnings-related pension, old-age pension, disability pension, disability pension, unemployment pension, farmers’ special pension, part-time pension, partial old-age pension, retirement
Age
In the tables on persons having retired on an earnings-related pension, the age used is the age at the start of the pension. In other tables it is the age at the end of the statistical year.
The average age is the arithmetic mean of the ages. For recipients of an earnings-related pension the age is calculated from the age at the end of the statistical year, and for persons who have retired on an earnings-related pension, from the age when the pension starts.
The median age is the age for the middle-most observation in the data.
Disability pension incidence rate
The share of new retirees on a disability pension in one year as per mille of the pension-insured population.
Age-standardisation and non-age standardisation is used when calculating the incidence rate. The standard population used in age standardisation is the number of insured persons in 2012 or the most recent statistical year. Standardisation is used to remove the effects of changes in the population’s age structure on the incidence rate.
The age used in the statistics is the person’s age at the end of the statistical year.
Disability pensions include ordinary disability pensions: years-of-service pensions as of the year 2018 and individual early pensions up to the year 2012.
Before 2018, disability pensions were granted only to person under age 63. That is why the incidence rates have been specified by age groups. In the long run, however, the most comparable age group is the 25–62-year-olds. Since the retirement age for the old-age pension continues to rise, disability pensions are granted to increasingly older persons. That is why the age classification used in the statistics must be amended in the future.
Domicile, country of residence, county
The domicile of a person is seen to be the domicile on the last day of the year. For pensions paid abroad, the country of residence is the country of residence on the last day of the statistical year.
Countries of residence are categorized according to the country categorization valid at the end of the statistical year. Counties are classified according to the regional classification in force at the end of the statistical year.
Earnings-related pension expenditure
Earnings-related pension expenditure includes all statutory pensions from the private and public sector paid during the statistical year, as well as voluntary, registered supplementary pensions paid by the employer, but not pensions paid by the municipalities according to the old local government regulations.
Main cause of incapacity
By main cause of incapacity to work is meant the main disease which is the basis of the pension. Although the reason for the disability may sometimes be a significant secondary disease in addition to the main disease, statistics are based solely on the classification of main diseases.
Since 1996, the diagnoses and the corresponding codes are based on the ICD 10 classification of diseases. Disability pensions granted before 1996 are based on the previous ICD 9 classification. The classification is primarily carried out according to the new classification of diseases. The codes according to the old classification have been as closely as possible placed in the correct category in the new classification.
New retiree on an earnings-related pension
New retirees receiving a pension based on their own work history are persons whose pension based on their own working career (old-age, disability or special farmer’s pension) has begun during the statistical year. A further requirement is that the new retiree has not received any pension of the aforementioned types for at least two years.
A scheme-based review is always carried out for the scheme in question. If a person has retired from another sector already prior to the statistical year, and is retiring from another sector during the statistical year, he or she is only registered in the latter sector for the statistical year, no longer in the figure of all who have retired. In other words, a person is only entered in figures relating to the whole earnings-related pension scheme in the statistical year during which the first pension begins. The scheme-specific figures of the tables can thus not be added together.
Persons having retired on an old-age pension are persons whose old-age pension started in the statistical year and who have not received a pension of any type in their own right for at least two years. As regards disability pensions and special pensions for farmers, the precondition is that the persons have not received a pension of this type for two years. As regards the different types of disability pension, the precondition is that the persons have not received a disability pension of any type for two years.
Persons retiring on a part-time pension are not considered as all persons having retired on an earnings-related pension. Persons receiving a part-time pension are not included in the figures until the year when their pension is converted to some other pension based on their own work history, usually an old-age pension.
The partial old-age pension, introduced in 2017, is processed in the same way in the statistics as the part-time pension. That means that persons who have retired on a partial old-age pension are not considered new retirees.
Pension benefit
The pension benefits in the earnings-related pension scheme are old-age, disability, special farmer’s, part-time, partial old-age and survivors’ pensions. More detailed information about pension types relating to the statistical year (for example basis for granting and age limits) has been presented in the figures for each statistical year in chapter 1.3 Pension benefits.
Pension sector
Recipients of an earnings-related pension are always included in the sector from which he or she receives at least one pension under survey. If a person receives a pension from both sectors, he or she is included in the figures for both sectors, but only once in the figures for the whole earnings-related pension scheme.
Persons who have retired on an earnings-related pension are registered in the sector-specific numbers, if retirement from the sector in question occurs in the statistical year. A person is registered in the numbers for the whole earnings-related pension scheme only once, in the statistical year during which the first pension begins.
Recipient of an earnings-related pension
Persons receiving a pension based on their own work history are those receiving old-age, disability, unemployment, special farmer’s, part-time or partial old-age pension during the last days of the statistical year. All recipients of earnings-related pension includes the aforementioned as well as recipients of survivors’ pensions. The earnings-related pension may be paid simultaneously with several different pension acts and types of pensions.
Size of the earnings-related pension
All monetary amounts given in the statistics are gross monthly pensions. Pension integration may have the effect of reducing an earnings-related pension if a person receives a pension under acts covering specific risks (Motor Liability Insurance Act, Occupational Accidents, Injuries and Diseases Act, Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-Related Illnesses, Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-Related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties, Military Injuries Act). The reduction is made to the accrued earnings-related pension. These benefits may be so high that only a small amount or no earnings-related pension is paid out.
The earnings-related pensions of pension recipients and persons who have retired on earnings-related pensions include the euro amounts from both sectors of all pensions based on their work history and which were in payment at the end of the statistical year: old-age, disability, unemployment and farmers’ special pensions. The pensions include the euro amounts of both basic pensions and registered supplementary pensions. If the pensions of new retirees in the statistical year have ended before the end of the statistical year, the pensions include the amounts of all earnings-related pensions in payment when the pension ended.
Recipients of part-time pensions do not simultaneously receive other earnings-related pensions based on their work history. Therefore, the earnings-related pensions of those who receive and those who have retired on a part-time pension include the euro amounts of the part-time pension only.
In addition to the above, the total earnings-related pension includes any survivors’ pension that the pension recipients may receive. The total earnings-related pension is not calculated for those who have retired on an earnings-related pension.
The average earnings-related and total earnings-related pensions are arithmetic means. Tables 5 and 16 also show the median pension. The median
pension is the pension observed at the mid-point of the material, i.e. half of the pension recipients receive a pension that is lower than the median and half receive a pension that is higher.
Social security agreement
An agreement between two countries that regulates the social security of individuals who are mobile between these countries.
Finland has bilateral social security agreements with Australia, Canada, Chile, China, India, Israel, Québec, South Korea and the U.S.A.
Unpaid period
Period for which a person receives a social security benefit for which pension accrues. Unpaid periods are, for instance, periods of parental allowances, periods of sickness allowance and unemployment allowance.
1. Contact
1.1 Contact organisation
The Finnish Centre for Pensions
1.2 Contact organisation unit
Planning Department
1.3 Contact name
Joonas Hautamäki
Jari Kannisto
1.4 Contact person function
Statistical expert
1.5 Contact mail address
The Finnish Centre for Pensions
FI-00065 ELAKETURVAKESKUS
Finland
1.6 Contact email address
firstname.lastname@etk.fi
Contact form
1.7 Contact phone number
+358 29 411 20
1.8 Contact fax number
Fax: +358 9 148 1172
2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified
26 June 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
26 June 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
26 June 2024
3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description
The statistics depict the number of and average pensions of persons who have received and who have retired with an earnings-related pension.
3.2. Classification system
Private and public sector; pension benefit; size of pension; gender and age of pension recipient; classification of diseases ICD-10; regional classification: municipality, region, wellbeing services county and country of residence.
3.3. Sector coverage
The statistics covers all statutory pensions paid from the Finnish earnings-related pension system.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The concepts and definitions have been presented on the statistics page.
3.5. Statistical unit
Person / pension recipient.
3.6. Statistical population
Persons receiving a pension from the Finnish earnings-related pension system.
3.7. Reference area
Municipality, province, wellbeing services county and country of residence.
3.8. Time coverage
The statistics have been produced since 1996. As for the number of recipients of an earnings-related pension, the time series extends to 1981.
4. Unit of measure
Number of persons.
Pension amount: €/month (gross pension).
Population share: % of population insured by Kela for social security benefits.
Disabiltiy pension incidence: ‰ of population insured for earnings-related pensions.
5. Reference period
For pension recipients, the last day of the statistical month and year. For new pensioners, the calendar month and year.
6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements
The Act on the Finnish Centre for Pensions states that one of the responsibilities of the institution is to compile statistics in its field of operations.
6.2. Data sharing
The statistical data is delivered annually to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) for the statistics of the European system of integrated social protection statistics (ESSPROS).
7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality – policy
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to data protection as a fundamental principle of statistics, which ensures confidential processing of data.
7.2. Confidentiality – data treatment
Data is protected by the necessary physical and technical solutions at the various stages of processing. Personnel have access only to the data necessary for their work. Third parties do not have access to the premises where the data is processed. Employees are required to sign a confidentiality agreement when they are hired.
8. Release Policy
The statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions are released on weekdays at 9.00 a.m. on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Any exceptions to the release time are announced separately.
The data in the statistical database are released as open data. The database’s open interface can be freely used under the CC BY 4.0 licence, with the Finnish Centre for Pensions being cited as the source of the statistical data.
8.1. Release Calendar
The release dates of the statistics are published in the release calendar. The release calendar for the following year is published towards the end of the year.
8.2. Release calendar access
8.3. User access
The statistics are available to everyone when they are published on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions at a previously announced date.
Embargo policy: Media that are bound by the journalist’s guidelines may request material from the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ Communications Department.
Communication Department’s contact information
9. Frequency of dissemination
The monhtly data of the statistics are released after mid-month of the month following the statistical month.
Special data of disability pensions are released in March.
Annual data on earnings-related pension recipients are released in March.
Preliminary data on the number of new pensioners with earnings-related pensions are released in February. The final data on new pensioners is released in June.
A separate statistical publication is released each year in June.
10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release
The releases of the statistics can be found in the shared open repository Julkari: Earnings-related pension recipients in Finland (Julkari)
Press releases on this topic can be found online at the website of the statistics.
10.2. Publications
Earnings-related Pension Recipients in Finland: monthly statistic
Earnings-related pension recipients in Finland (Julkari)
10.3. Online database
The monthly statistics on earnings-related pension recipients (PxWeb)
Number of earnings-related pension recipients (PxWeb)
Number of new retirees on earnings-related pension (PxWeb)
Size of earnings-related pension recipients’ pension (PxWeb)
Size of pension of new retirees on earnings-related pension (PxWeb)
Disability pension incidence rate (PxWeb)
Recipients of earnings-related pension living abroad (PxWeb)
10.4. Microdata access
The Finnish Centre for Pensions can extract research material from its registers for scientific research. It discloses the data in compliance with the principles of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities and the Data Protection Act. As a rule, it does not disclose register data for commercial purposes. The scientific research must be identified.
Apply for research access to register data of the Finnish Centre for Pensions (pdf)
11. Quality Management
11.1. Quality assurance
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to the quality principles of Official Statistics of Finland. Its statistical production follows the quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland, which are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.
11.2. Quality assessment
The quality of statistics is assessed at several stages in the statistical process.
12. Relevance
12.1. User needs
Feedback from users is gathered through customer surveys. Feedback is also collected through direct contact. The feedback received is monitored and taken into account in the development of the statistics.
13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy
The data are based on administrative registers. The source data are at individual level and used for the payment of pensions.
13.2. Sampling error
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13.3. Non-sampling error
The register data are extracted at the beginning of the year, when some of the retroactive pension decisions may be missing from the statistical data.
14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness
The monthly data of the statistics are released after mid-month of the month following the statistical month.
The annual data are compiled in several parts which are published in five separate releases following the quality inspection of the data.
The first part is released in February and the last part in June following the statistical year.
15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability – geographical
The regional classification (municipalities, counties, wellbeing services counties) in force in each statistical year is used in the statistics.
15.2. Comparability – over time
This statistical publication has been produced since 1996. Its time series are mainly comparable from that date. As for the number of earnings-related pension recipients, the time series extends back to the year 1981.
In 2005—2013, the statistics was published under the name Pensioners and Insured in Finland (Official Statistics of Finland). As of the statistical year 2014, the data is published in two different statistical publications: Earnings-related pension recipients in Finland (OSF) and Persons insured for an earnings-related pension in Finland (OSF).
In 1999, the concept of new retirees was changed. It no longer includes persons retiring on a part-time pension. They are included in the figures for new retirees when they start to receive some other pension that is based on their own working life, usually an old-age pension.
The partial old-age pension, introduced in 2017, is processed in the same way in the statistics as the part-time pension. That means that persons who retired on a partial old-age pension in 2020 are not considered new retirees.
As of the statistical year 2020, survivors’ pensions (the surviving spouse’s pension and orphan’s pension) that amount to 0 euro are no longer included in figures of the annual statistics. In the monthly statistics, the change is made as of the beginning of the statistical year 2021. This change affects the number of recipients of survivors’ pensions and the average pension level.
The amount of the paid survivors’ pensions is affected by the surviving spouse’s own earnings-related pension (or calculated accrued pension) and benefits paid based on motor liability and accident insurance. Taking them into consideration may lead to a survivors’ pension of 0 euro.
Changes in earnings-related pension legislation must be considered when interpreting the statistics:
Year-by-year changes in earnings-related pension legislation
15.3. Coherence – cross domain
Differences in the definition of concepts may make comparisons with other statistics of the same statistical region difficult.
These statistics include only statutory earnings-related pensions, which exclude, for example, voluntry supplementary pension insurances.
15.3.1. Coherence – sub annual and annual statistics
The data on the earnings-related pension system are mainly coherent between the monthly and annual statistics. Due to the differences in the date of extraction of the data, some of the pension data may become more accurate in the course of the year.
15.4. Coherence – internal
The data of the statistics are coherent with the data in the joint statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions and Kela (Statistics on Pensioners in Finland).
Statistics on Pensioners in Finland
16. Cost and burden
The production of the statistics is financed annually by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
17. Data Revision
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18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data
The statistics are based on the registers of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
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18.3. Data collection
Administrative registers.
18.4. Data validation
Adjustments are made at different stages of statistical production in accordance with the production processes of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. In addition, the results are compared with changes in legislation and with data from previous statistical years.
18.5. Data compilation
Individual-level pension data are extracted from the pension register. They are used to generate aggregate data and statistical tables.
