Topical issues

Every third woman and every second man aged 35 in Finland are childless although Finns dream of having two children. Consortium Director Marika Jalovaara (FLUX, University of Turku) argues that it’s not about employment or income but about impressions and social capital. Online dating may favour the high-educated.

The amount of debt, the income level and health are strongly linked to financial satisfaction of old-age pensioners. Taking the differences in income and wealth into account, the financial satisfaction of pensioners is weaker in Southern Finland than in Eastern and Northern Finland. This is evident in a recent research article by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

The number of disability pension recipients has dropped by more than 25 per cent between 2010 and 2020. For the main part, this is because many of the babyboomers have transitioned from a disability pension to an old-age pension. At the same time, the number of starting disability pensions has declined. This is observed in …

Are you thinking of whether to claim your pension before the end of this year or to continue working past the turn of the year? Our renewed pension calculators can assist you in your planning. Use the calculators at Tyoelake.fi to assess the effect of the index increase on your pension.

Work that is found meaningful and perceived to be less hectic and not involving too many changes is linked to late retirement. This is evident from a survey conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions that examined the perceptions of persons who retired on an old-age pension between 2019 and 2021.

The Finnish Centre for Pensions estimates that the 2024 earnings-related pension index will grow slightly more than the wage coefficient. As a result, a person who retires on an earnings-related pension before the end of 2023 may receive a slightly higher index increment than a person who retires after the turn of the year. A person who considers claiming a pension should also note the impact of continued work, taxation and Kela benefits on their pension amount.

Sweden proposes that the sharing of electronic information about social security related issues be enhanced and streamlined. Further cooperation would increase cost effectiveness and better protect the social security rights of people moving between the Nordic countries.

Finnish citizens’ trust in the pension system remains high, according to the Pension Barometer conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Yet, the confidence has decreased somewhat compared to previous Pension Barometers. Two thirds of the respondents trust the pension system and almost as many think pension assets are managed in a responsible way.

Some EU Member States have signed a framework agreement on cross-border telework. It will enter into force on 1 July 2023. Finland has signed the Agreement. According to the Framework Agreement, an employee habitually working and teleworking in two different EU countries can be insured, under certain conditions, in the country where the statutory seat of their employer is established (instead of in their own country of residence).

Approximately 71,500 people in Finland retired on an earnings-related pension in 2022. This is 10 000 more than in the previous year. Most of the increase came from people retiring on a full old-age pension. Almost 28 billion euros were paid in old-age pensions in Finland in 2022.