Topical issues

The Finnish Centre for Pensions has updated the booklet that contains information on how to claim a pension from abroad. The booklet is available in several languages. You can order printed booklets from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

Finns continue working until retirement on an old-age pension clearly more often than before. Retirement from work became more prevalent in all socio-economic groups in 2006–2017, but particularly so among the low-educated. This is evident from a fresh study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

An ample 60 per cent of Finns find employment-based immigration to be a good means to strengthen pension financing.Raising pension contributions is the second most popular solution. An ample one third is in favour of this alternative. Only one quarter of Finns are in favour of pension investors increasing risk taking to increase pension assets. …

In 2021, a total of 30 billion euros were paid in earnings-related pensions. Old-age pensions accounted for nearly 90 per cent. The average monthly pension of those retiring on an earnings-related old-age pension in 2021 was 1,900 euros. On average, the monthly pensions of new female retirees were an ample 200 euros higher than of those who retired earlier.

The earnings-related pension field wants access not only to data on earnings but also to data on benefits in the Incomes Register when calculating pensions. That is why the Tax Administration Incomes Register Unit has been given the assignment to examine within the next few years whether an earnings basis can be added to the data content of the Incomes Register.

People on a partial old-age pension more often retire on a full-time old-age pension as soon as they reach their retirement age than do those who are not drawing a partial old-age pension. The same applies to those who draw the former part-time pension. People on an early pension also less often continue working until their target retirement age, a study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions reveals.

Working in two or several EU Member States as a civil servant and as an employee or a self-employed person means that the social security of the person working abroad is transferred to the country where the work as a civil servant is done. This also applies to situations in which the person works remotely in Finland as a civil servant for a foreign employer.

In all European countries, people continue working longer than before. Yet the low-educated exit the labour market earlier than the high-educated. In Finland, the effective exit age, that is, the age at which people leave the labour market, has increased relatively much.

The second corona year proved very favourable for pension investors, with an average nominal return on pension investments of 15.8 per cent and a real return of 11.9 per cent. The total assets rose to 256 billion euros. Good solvency safeguards pensions also in volatile global situations.

The winner of the 2021 Pro Gradu Award, Heidi Tuohimaa (M.Soc.Sc., University of Lapland), examined in her thesis the news coverage of earnings-related pension insurance companies and the related framework in Finland’s largest daily paper Helsingin Sanomat. Each year, the Finnish Centre for Pensions grants a Pro Gradu Award to a distinguished Master’s thesis.