Life expectancy coefficient applied when pension starts

The life expectancy coefficient is applied when the pension starts, that is, when your pension amount is calculated. The coefficient reduces your monthly pension based on how average life expectancy increases. People are living longer, and this means we have greater life expectancy. Greater life expectancy has to be accounted for when calculating pensions.

The life expectancy coefficient is determined for each age group at age 62. It will be permanently applied to the pension payments you get. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health issues a decree on the value of the life expectancy coefficient for the next year by the end of November at the latest.

Year in which the life expectancy coefficient was determined (at age 62) Your birth  year Life expectancy coefficient
2024 1962 0.94692
2023 1961 0.94419
2022 1960 0.94659
2021 1959 0.94984
2020 1958 0.95404
2019 1957 0.95722
2018 1956 0.96102
2017 1955 0.96344
2016 1954 0.96800
2015 1953 0.97200
2014 1952 0.97552
2013 1951 0.97914
2012 1950 0.98351
2011 1949 0.98689
2010 1948 0.99170
2009 1947 1.00000

Example of how the life expectancy coefficient affects your pension amount

You were born in 1960. By the time your old-age pension begins, you have accrued a monthly earnings-related pension of 1,600 euros. The confirmed life expectancy coefficient for those born in 1960 is 0.94659. The pension you have accrued is multiplied by the life expectancy coefficient.

€1,600 × 0.94659 = €1,514.54

Your gross pension is €1,514.54. This means that the life expectancy coefficient reduces your pension by around 5.3 per cent.

Pension on pension record adjusted with life expectancy coefficient

The pension amount stated on your pension record has been adjusted with the life expectancy coefficient. The Finnish Centre for Pensions projects the coefficients based on Statistics Finland’s population forecasts.

Five years before you reach your retirement age, your pension record will include an estimate of your target retirement age. The target retirement age indicates how long you need to defer retirement in order for the increment for late retirement to increase your pension as much as the life expectancy coefficient cuts it at the retirement age of your age group. The estimate of your target retirement age is specified in the year in which you (as an employee or a self-employed person) turn 62.

Check your pension record

Life expectancy coefficient and disability pensions

The life expectancy coefficient is also applied to disability pensions, but to a more limited degree. The coefficient is applied to the pension you have earned up to the time of retirement, but it is not applied to the projected pension component, that is, the computational pension you earn from the time of your retirement on a disability pension to when you reach your retirement age.

The life expectancy coefficient confirmed for the 62-year-olds in the year in which you retire on a disability pension will be applied to your disability pension.

The life expectancy coefficient is applied only once. When your disability pension becomes an old-age pension, the coefficient is not applied again.