Amount of pension

For wage-earners, pension accrues on their earnings from employment. Usually, the earnings that accrue pension are the same as the salary that is subject to withholding tax.

We obtain earnings information from the Incomes Register; all employers are obligated to report the salaries they pay to the Incomes Register. Pension is calculated on gross earnings.

For self-employed persons, pension accrues on their confirmed income under YEL insurance.

Pension accrues at a rate of 1.5% per year starting at the age of 17 (or as of 18 if you are self-employed). You earn new pension for work until your maximum retirement age.The maximum retirement age is determined by the year of birth:

• 68 years for those born in 1957
• 69 years for those born in 1958-1961 and
• 70 years for those born in 1962 or after.

Pension is calculated one year at a time.The calculation formula is simple: pension accrues at 1.5% of annual earnings, after which the resulting amount is divided by 12. This gives the amount of pension accrued for one year of work on a monthly basis.

Check your retirement age with our pension calculator

• the number of employment years
• certain unpaid periods that accrue pension
• the life expectancy coefficient, which is based on year of birth
• a possible increment for deferred retirement after reaching the minimum retirement age
• index increments

National pension can supplement your pension if your earnings-related pension is below Kela’s income limits:

• EUR 1,624.63 if you live alone (in 2026)
• EUR 1,455.88 if you live with another person (in 2026)

Please note that only the accurued earnings-related pension amount is considered in the national pension income limit. Any possible increment for deferred retirement is not taken into account.

More information on national pension is available on Kela’s website

If you retire after your minimum retirement age, the increment for deferred retirement will increase your pension by 0.4% for every month that you defer your retirement.

For example, if you defer your retirement by one year, your pension will be increased by 4.8% (12 x 0.4%).

The increment for deferred retirement does not apply to periods during which you receive unemployment benefits, old-age pension or disability pension.

The life expectancy coefficient is used when pension begins; in other words, when the pension is calculated.

The life expectancy coefficient is confirmed for each age cohort at the age of 62. The coefficient for your age cohort will be applied to your pension regardless of your age when your pension begins.

The life expectancy coefficient reduces the amount of new pensions as the expected average life expectancy changes. The purpose of the coefficient is to adapt the level of new earnings-related pensions and pension expenditure to rising life expectancy.

Upon reaching the target retirement age, the amount of the pension reduction caused by the life expectancy coefficient is more or less the same as the pension increase brought by the increment for deferred retirement. The life expectancy coefficient is applied every time the pension starts, also at the target retirement age.

Confirmed life expectancy coefficients on the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ website

Two indices are used in earnings-related pensions: the wage coefficient and the earnings-related pension index. Both are a combination of Statistics Finland’s Index of Wage and Salary Earnings and Consumer Price Index.

When you retire, the wages and income you earned during your career are adjusted to the level of the year in which your pension begins by a wage coefficient. In the wage coefficient, the change in the level of wage-earners’ earnings is weighted 80% and the change in consumer prices is weighted 20%. 

During your retirement, the earnings-related pension index protects your pension from inflation. The amount of your pension is adjusted by the earnings-related pension index every January. In the earnings-related pension index, the change in consumer prices accounts for 80% and the change in the level of earnings for 20%. 

Read more from our news: Indices for earnings-related pension cover for 2026 have been confirmed