How the Finnish pension system works
The core of Finland’s statutory pension is the earnings-related pension (työeläke). From 2026 it accrues 1.5% of your gross earnings every year from age 17 to 69 (until 2025 the rate depended on age), and accrued amounts are revalued with the palkkakerroin, an index weighted 80% to wages and the rest to prices. When the pension starts it is multiplied by the life-expectancy coefficient (elinaikakerroin): 0.94453 for the 1965 cohort; for later cohorts the calculator uses ETK projections, falling to 0.831 for people born in 2038. The lowest retirement age is 65 years for those born 1962–1965 and is projected to rise, to about 67 years 5 months for the 1990 cohort. Each month you defer adds 0.4%; there is no full early old-age pension.
If your työeläke is small, Kela adds the national pension (kansaneläke): in 2026 the full amount is €787.07 a month for a single person and €702.69 for someone living as a couple, reduced by 50% of the työeläke above €66.54 and scaled down if you lived in Finland for less than 39.2 years between 16 and 65. The guarantee pension (takuueläke) then tops all pensions up to €990.90 a month. Without further input the calculator estimates your työeläke from your current salary and career start (earlier years at the rates of the time). For exact figures, enter the accrued pension from your earnings-related pension statement (työeläkeote) or the estimate from the tyoelake.fi pension calculator.
On top of the statutory pensions the calculator counts your own savings. To close the gap it first uses voluntary pension insurance (PS-sopimus): contributions of up to €5,000 a year are deductible from capital income – otherwise they give a 30% credit against the tax on earnings – and the money is paid out from age 70 if you were born in 1962 or later, taxed as capital income. Anything beyond that goes into unrestricted saving. The calculator adds all pillars, compares the gross total with your target share of your last salary and shows how much to save each month.
Pensions are taxable earned income: the net is shown after state and municipal tax and the health insurance contribution, with the pension income deduction; large pensions also pay a pension surtax, but no pension or unemployment contributions are due.