Your earnings-related pension will be calculated based on all your earnings from both employment and self-employment. When you are self-employed, you will earn pension under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act based on your confirmed annual income.
Your pension will grow by 1.5% of your confirmed annual income.
As a result of the 2017 pension reform, your pension will grow by 1.7 per cent between the years 2017-2025 if you are between the ages of 53 and 62.
In addition to your confirmed income, your pension will grow also for studies leading to a degree, for certain social security benefits, and for periods when you take care of your own children (at home) under the age of three.
Check your pension record to find out how much pension you have accrued so far.
If the earnings-related pension you have earned is small or you have earned no earnings-related pension, you may be granted a national pension or a guarantee pension.
Example of how pension accrues
Your confirmed income from self-employment is 28,000 euros. You accrue pension at an annual rate of 1.5 per cent of your confirmed income. Your monthly pension is calculated by dividing the sum by 12.
€28,000 × 1.5% ÷ 12 months = €35.
If you work as a self-employed person for about 10 years with a confirmed income of this amount, you earn a gross monthly pension of 350 euros.
Your earnings-related pension is also multiplied with the life expectancy coefficient determined for your age group.
The amount of your pension that you have earned from self-employment is based on your confirmed income throughout your period of self-employment. If you have raised or lowered your earnings-related pension contributions at any point during your self-employment, that will also be taken into account.
It is important that you keep your confirmed income on the correct level at all times. If you raise your confirmed income in the last years of your self-employment, it will not significantly affect the amount of your pension.
Insurance contributions
The higher contributions you pay, the higher your pension will be.
Your earnings-related pension insurance company or your industry-wide pension fund will collect the contribution based on your confirmed income stated in the insurance contract. Self-employed person’s pension contribution in 2025 is 24.10% and the increased contribution for 53–62-year-olds 25.60%
| If you are under 53 or over 63 | If you are between 53 and 62 |
|---|---|
| 24.10% | 25.60% |
You can deduct the contributions you pay in your taxation to their full amount. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health confirms the YEL contribution rate each year.
Example of your pension contribution and accrued pension if you are self-employed
Your annual confirmed income from self-employment has been set at 28,000 euros. As you are self-employed and under the age of 53, your pension contribution rate under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act is 24.10 per cent in 2025.
€28,000 x 24.10% = €6,748
You pay 6,748 euros in pension contributions under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act each year. That means that you pay around 562 euros per month in pension contributions.
You accrue pension at an annual rate of 1.5 per cent. Your monthly pension is calculated by dividing the sum by 12.
€28,000 x 1.5 ÷ 12 = 35€.
With the confirmed income in question, you earn a monthly pension of 35 euros in 2025.
Your earnings-related pension is also multiplied with the life expectancy coefficient determined for your age group.
You were born in 1967. Your estimated retirement age is 65 years and 4 months.
With the current expected life expectancy coefficient, your age group will spend 21 years and 3 months (or 255 months) in retirement.
€35 x 255 months = €8,925
With this assumption, the total pension contributions you have paid (€6,748) would give you a total gross pension of 8,925 euros.
In these examples, changes in the value of money have not been considered. Your earnings-related pension will also be adjusted with the wage coefficient until retirement and the earnings-related pension index after retirement (as stated in the earnings-related pension acts).
Reduction for newly self-employed
If you are a newly self-employed worker, you will receive a 22% discount on your YEL contribution for four years (48 months). If you stop being self-employed before the 48 months are up, you can use the remaining discount months later if you take up self-employment again.
Flexible contributions
You can make your future pension grow more thanks to flexible contributions. This means that, when you are doing well, you can temporarily raise your insurance contribution by 10-100%. When times are tough, you can temporarily reduce your contribution. In that case, you will earn less in pension during that period.
You can pay higher contributions every year if you want, but the restrictions for reducing your contributions are stricter. You have to notify your pension provider of your changed contributions. The change is valid for one year at a time. Increasing or reducing your contributions does not affect your confirmed income, nor does it affect the benefits granted by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).
If you need to raise your confirmed income permanently, contact your pension provider. Together, you can adjust your confirmed income to the correct level.
Your confirmed annual income for self-employment is 28,000 euros. As you are self-employed and under the age of 53, your pension contribution rate under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act is 24.10 per cent in 2025.
€28,000 x 24.10% = €6,748
You pay 6,748 euros in pension contributions each year.
Your increased or reduced confirmed income (total confirmed income), which forms the basis on which you accrue pension as a self-employed person, is calculated by dividing the total amount of contributions you have paid with a hundredth part of the contribution rate.
Let’s assume that you decide to pay an additional 2,500 euros in earnings-related pension contributions. In that case, your confirmed income is calculated as follows:
(€6,748 + €2,500) ÷ 0.241 = €38,373
That means that your total confirmed income for this calendar year is 38,373 euros.
Let’s assume, correspondingly, that you decide to reduce your annual earnings-related pension contribution by 520 euros. In that case, your confirmed income is calculated as follows:
(€6,748 − €520) ÷ 0.241 = €25,842
That means that your total confirmed income for this calendar year is 25,842 euros.
Changes in the value of money or interest rates have not been considered in the example.
Use the calculator to estimate your old-age pension
You can estimate your old-age pension using the pension calculator.