Total Expenditure on Pensions
Total pension expenditure 37.8 billion euros in 2023
A total of 37.8 billion euros were paid in pensions and pension-like benefits in Finland in 2023. Of all pensions paid, 90 per cent (€34.1 billion) were earnings-related pensions. Kela paid national and guarantee pensions to the amount of 2.6 billion euros.
The total pension expenditure includes earnings-related pensions, pensions paid by Kela and benefits paid under special pension provisions. Such benefits paid out in 2023 totalled 0.5 billion euros.
Pension-like benefits are paid under the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Liability Insurance Act, the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-Related Illnesses and the Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties.
Total expenditure for free-form pensions in 2023 came to 0.6 billion euros. The expenditure for free-form pensions includes unregistered supplementary pensions taken out by employers.
Of the total pension expenditure, 51 per cent were pensions paid to men. Pensions paid abroad accounted for less than 1 per cent of total pension expenditure.
(Updated on 10 July 2024)
Earnings-related and national pensions paid out in 2023 totalled 36.7 billion euros
In 2023, earnings-related and national pensions paid out totalled 36.7 billion euros.
Most of these pensions (€31.8 billion) were paid as old-age pensions. Disability pensions accounted for 7 per cent (€2.5 billion). Survivors’ pensions accounted for 5 per cent (€2.0 billion). Part-time pensions and farmers’ special pensions together accounted for 0.1 per cent of pensions paid.
Earnings-related pensions accounted for 34.1 billion euros and national pensions for 2.3 billion euros. In addition to national pensions, Kela paid guarantee pensions (supplements to earnings-related and national pensions) amounting to 0.3 billion euros.
Total pension expenditure also includes voluntary supplementary pensions and benefits paid under special pension provisions (in addition to earnings-related and Kela pensions). Pension-like benefits are paid under the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Liability Insurance Act, the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-Related Illnesses and the Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties.
According to preliminary data, a total of 37.7 billion euros were paid out in pensions and pension-like benefits in Finland in 2023.
(Updated on 27 March 2024)
Statistical tables and graphs:
Read more:
Statistical services provides further information:
Total Expenditure on Pensions
Producer: Finnish Centre for Pensions
Website: Total Expenditure on Pensions
Subject area: Social protection
Part of the Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
ISSN: 2489-7027
Description
The statistic provides an overall view of the cash amounts of pensions paid in Finland.
Data content
The Finnish pension scheme is diversified. Total pension expenditure thus consists of pensions paid from several different schemes and parties.
Earnings-related pensions are paid by pension providers in the private and public sectors. Kela (the Social Insurance Institution) pays the pensions and guarantee pensions of the national pension scheme. Benefits classified as pensions are also paid based on the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Insurance Act, the Military Injuries Act, the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-related Illnesses and the Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties. The statistic on total expenditure assembles all of these into a greater whole.
Categorizations
Pension scheme, sector and pension benefit.
Methods of data collection and source
The statistical data is based on register material. The quality description contains more information on how the data is formed (section Correctness and accuracy of data).
Update frequency
The data is updated once a year.
Time of completion or release
Advance information about the statistic is published in the spring following the statistical year. The final data is published in autumn of the year following the statistical year. Statistical publication dates are reported annually in the Release Calendar.
Time series
The statistical data is available from 1986 onwards. The time series of the statistic is for the most part comparable. More detailed information about the time series of the statistic can be found in section Coherence and comparability of data of the quality description.
Key words
Social insurance, pensions, earnings-related pensions, national pensions, pension expenditure
Contact information
Total Expenditure on Pensions
The total expenditure of pensions includes the expenses of the following pensions paid over the year: earnings-related pensions, Kela pensions, benefits classified as pensions that are paid based on the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Insurance Act, the Military Injuries Act, the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-related Illnesses and the Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties, as well as voluntary pensions paid by employers. Voluntary pensions paid by the individuals themselves are not included in the total expenditure of pensions.
Earnings-related pension expenditure
Earnings-related pension expenditure comprises pensions paid by the private and public sectors. Private sector pension expenditure comprises basic pension provision and pensions paid based on registered supplementary pension provision.
Pension expenditure of Kela
The pension expenditure of Kela includes pensions paid under the National Pensions Act and the guarantee pension.
Special pension provision expenditure
Special pension provision expenditure comprises benefits classified as pensions based on the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Insurance Act, the Military Injuries Act, the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-related Illnesses and the Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties. Such benefits are also referred to as SOLITA pensions.
Pension expenditure of voluntary pensions
The pension expenditure of voluntary pensions includes unregistered supplementary pensions paid by employers.
Old-age pension expenditure
Old-age pension expenditure comprises old-age pensions paid as earnings-related and national pensions. The expenditure includes pensions begun at retirement age as well as pensions taken early.
Disability pension expenditure
Disability pension expenditure comprises all disability pensions paid as earnings-related and national pensions. Disability pensions comprise disability pensions paid until further notice and rehabilitation allowance paid for a set time. For the years 1986–2011, disability pension expenditure also comprises individual pension taken early.
Part-time pension expenditure
Part-time pension expenditure comprises part-time pensions paid as earnings-related pensions. Part-time pensions are not paid in the national pension scheme.
Pension expenditure of special farmers’ pension
The pension expenditure of special farmers’ pension comprises early retirement pensions, early retirement aid and early retirement increases. Special farmers’ pensions are only paid in the private sector of the earnings-related pension scheme. Pension expenditure of special farmers’ pensions comprises generational shift pensions for the years 1986–2010 and early retirement increases for the years 1993–2010.
Survivors’ pension expenditure
Survivors’ pension expenditure includes survivors’ pensions paid under the earnings-related pension system and those paid by Kela.
1. Contact
1.1 Contact organisation
Finnish Centre for Pensions
1.2 Contact organisation unit
Planning Department
1.3 Contact name
Jukka Lampi
Katariina Käkönen
1.4 Contact person function
Statistical expert
1.5 Contact mail address
Finnish Centre for Pensions
FI-00065 ELAKETURVAKESKUS
Finland
1.6 Contact email address
firstname.lastname@etk.fi
Contact form for Statistics
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
27 March 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
27 March 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
27 March 2024
3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description
The statistic provides an overall view of the money amounts of pensions paid in Finland.
3.2. Classification system
3.3. Sector coverage
The statutory pension security in Finland primarily consists of two statutory pension schemes, the earnings-related pension scheme and the national pension scheme. Benefits classified as pensions according to the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Insurance Act, the Military Injuries Act, the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-related Illnesses and the Act on Compensation for Accidents and Service-related Illnesses in Crisis Management Duties also constitute statutory pension security.
In the private sector, earnings-related pensions are managed by earnings-related pension providers as well as company-wide and industry-wide pension funds, and, in the public sector, primarily by Keva. The Finnish Centre for Pensions acts as a centre for the earnings-related pension scheme and collects, for example, the information necessary for processing earnings-related pension matters in the management of its statutory assignments. Kela is in charge of the national pension scheme. Kela also manages the payment of guarantee pensions.
The statistic Total Expenditure of Pensions gathers together the amount of statutory pensions paid by different systems. The statistic also includes information on voluntary unregistered supplementary pensions paid by the employer. Voluntary pensions paid by the individuals themselves are not included in the figures of the statistic.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Concepts and definitions have been presented on the statistics page.
3.5. Statistical unit
3.6. Statistical population
3.7. Reference area
Municipality, province, wellbeing services county and country of residence.
3.8. Time coverage
4. Unit of measure
mill. euros
5. Reference period
Calendar year
6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements
6.2. Data sharing
Social protection expenditure and financing (THL)
7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality – policy
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to data protection as a fundamental principle of statistics, which ensures the confidentiality 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 Finnich 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.
9. Frequency of dissemination
The preliminary data of the statistics are published in March of the year following the statistical reference year. The final data are released in October.
10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release
The releases of the statistics can be found in the shared open repository Julkari:
Total Expenditure on Pensions (Julkari)
10.2. Publications
Key Figures: Pension expenditure
10.3. Online database
11. Quality Management
11.1. Quality assurance
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to the quality principles of Official Statistics of Finland. Our 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.
14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness
The statistical data are produced in two parts, which are published as separate releases after the data quality check.
The preliminary data of the statistics are published in March of the year following the statistical reference year. The final data are released in October.
15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability – geographical
The regional classification (municipalities, counties, welfare regions) in force in each statistical year is used in the statistics.
15.2. Comparability – over time
The Finnish Centre for Pensions has been producing the statistics Total Expenditure on Pensions in Finland from the statistical year 2016 onwards. The statistic was previously produced by Kela.
In connection with the change in producer, the time series of the statistic was retroactively corrected back to the year 1986. The change concerned earnings-related pension expenditure, corrected in keeping with the register data of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The correction caused slight changes also to the total sum of pension expenditure. At the same time, changes were also made to the classification of data.
The basic data of the statistic is available from the year 1960 onwards. The total sums of the time series are for the most part comparable. Changes occurring in pension legislation should, however, be taken into account when comparing the time series. One notable change is the change in the concept ‘national pension’ that took effect on 1 January 2008, following which the care and residential support of a pension recipient are no longer considered to be part of the pension.
15.3. Coherence – cross domain
–
15.3.1. Coherence – sub annual and annual statistics
Data on the earnings-related pension scheme are essentially consistent between the monthly and annual statistics. Due to the timing of the data collection, some backdated payments and lump-sum pension payments are missing from the monthly statistics.
Earnings-related Pension Recipients in Finland: monthly statistic
15.4. Coherence – internal
The data on pensions paid published in the financial statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions differ from the figures in these statistics.
The data for Total Expenditure on Pensions and the financial statistics are based on different sources. The data for the statistics Total Expenditure on Pensions are compiled from register data. The euro amounts of pensions paid published in the financial statistics are data collected from the annual accounts of the Finnish pension institutions and reported by them for the purpose of cost allocation.
16. Cost and burden
The production of the statistics is financed annually by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
17. Data Revision
–
18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data
The data in the statistic is based on the registers of the Finnish Centre for Pensions and Kela.
Data on pensions paid in accordance with the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Motor Insurance Act, the Military Injuries Act and the Act on Compensation for Military Accidents and Service-related Illnesses come from the Insurance Centre, the Workers’ Compensation Centre, the State Treasury and the Famers’ Social Insurance Institution. Data on voluntary, unregistered supplementary pensions come from the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority.
Data on the cash amounts of pensions paid according to the old pension regulations governing municipalities and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church are based on data provided to the Finnish Centre for Pensions by Kela.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
–
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
Data on pensions paid by the earnings-related pension scheme and Kela are formed from the statistical data storage jointly maintained by the Finnish Centre for Pensions and Kela which contains information about individuals receiving pension from the earnings-related or national pension schemes as well as of the annual pension expenditure.
Pension expenditure for pensions under the old pension rules for local government and the Church is added to the public sector data for earnings-related pension expenditure.
Total pension expenditure is calculated by adding pension expenditure for special and non-statutory pensions to the sum of pension expenditure for earnings-related pensions and pension expenditure of Kela.
