Your earnings-related pension is calculated based on all your earnings from work and self-employment during your working life. The longer you work and the later you retire, the higher your pension will be. Also, the higher your wages or your earnings from self-employment are, the higher your pension will be.
On this page, we explain briefly which factors affect the amount of your earnings-related pension. For more detailed information, go to the other pages of this section (How much pension?). The amount of partial old-age pension, disability pension and survivor’s pension is explained in more detail in the section Different pensions.
How to estimate your future pension
- Check your pension record to see how much pension you have accrued so far.
Check your pension record - Estimate your future pension with our pension calculator.
Go to the pension calculator
You can ask for a pension assessment from your own pension provider. To find out which pension provider handles your earnings-related pensions, click the above link ‘Check your pension record’ or contact the Finnish Centre for Pensions, phone +358 29 411 2110.
If you are already paid a pension, you can check the amount of that pension by contacting the pension provider that pays out your pension. Contact information of the pension providers
How your pension grows
Your earnings-related pension is calculated based on your annual earnings. If you are an employee, your pension is calculated based on your annual earnings from work. If you are self-employed, your pension is calculated based on your confirmed income. You also accrue pension for your fringe benefits such as lunch benefits, company-paid phone and use of a company car.
You accrue pension annually at a rate of
- 1.5% of your gross annual earnings when you are between the ages of 17 and 52 (or as of 18 if you are self-employed),
- 1.7% of your gross annual earnings when you are between the ages of 53 and 62 during the transition period from 2017 to 2025, and
- 1.5% of your gross annual earnings when you are aged 63 or more.
You earn new pension for work up to the age when your insurance obligation ends, which is
- 68 years if you were born in 1957 or earlier,
- 69 years if you were born between 1958 and 1961, and
- 70 years if you were born in 1962 or later.
How is your pension calculated?
Your pension is calculated for one year at a time. To put it simply, your pension is calculated by multiplying your annual earnings with 1.5 per cent and the life expectancy coefficient. Your monthly pension is calculated by dividing the result by 12.
Example of how pension accrues for one year
Your earn €40,000 in one year. You accrue pension for your earnings as follows:
€40,000 × 1.5% ÷ 12 = €50/month
The earnings-related pension you have accrued will also be adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient determined for your age group.
If your earnings-related pension is small or you have not earned any pension, you can get a national pension or a guarantee pension.
If you retire after you have reached your retirement age, your pension will rise for each month that you retire late because of the increment for late retirement.
Also the life expectancy coefficient affects your pension amount. The value of the life expectancy coefficient depends on your year of birth. The life expectancy coefficient reduces your monthly pension the more the higher your birth year’s life expectanc is.
You also accrue pension for studies leading to a degree, certain social benefits and childcare leave for your child(ren) under the age of three.
For most work done abroad, you also accrue pension. Before going abroad, find out how your pension insurance is to be arranged in the country in which you will work.
You accrue pension only for work for which you pay income tax. If you work off the books, it means that your employer does not pay pension insurance contributions. As a result, your future pension will be smaller.
Your (the employee’s) share of the pension contribution is specified on your pay slip. Check your pension record to make sure that your employer has also paid its share of the contribution and that you have accrued pension correctly.
If you find errors in your wage data or if your wages are not listed in the Incomes Register or your pension record, contact your employer who has paid the wage. If you cannot sort out the matter with your employer, contact your own pension provider or the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Contact information of pension providers and the Finnish Centre for Pensions
You earn pension for the compensation you get as an informal or family carer.
You do not accrue pension for periods of military or non-military service.
Pension has accrued at different rates at different times, depending on the earnings-related pension act in force at each given time.
Between 2005 and 2016, pension accrued at the following rates:
- 1.5% of the annual gross wages between the ages of 18 and 52
- 1.9% of the annual gross wages between the ages of 53 and 62
- 4.5% of the annual gross wages between the ages 63 and 67.
Until the end of 2004, pension accrued at the following rates:
- 1.5% before turning 60 years, and
- 2.5% after turning 60 years.
Before 2005, pension began to accrue as if age 23. Between the years 2005 and 2016, pension accrued after age 18. The former age limits will affect the pensions of many for a long time since earnings-related pension acts do not apply retroactively.
Your disability pension includes not only the earned pension but also the component for the projected period. It can form a considerable part of your pension, particularly if you have become disabled at a young age.
The projected pension component is the time that you would have been working if your working life had not been interrupted by disability. In practice it means the time from the beginning of your disability to your retirement age.