How the Norwegian pension system works
For people born in 1963 or later, Norway’s national pension (alderspensjon from folketrygden) is built up in a pension balance, the pensjonsbeholdning: each year 18.1% of your income up to 7.1 G (NOK 969,498; the base amount G is NOK 136,549) is added, and the balance grows with wages. At withdrawal it is divided by the delingstall, a life-expectancy divisor for your birth year and age – for cohorts born from 1966 a forecast by NAV. The garantipensjon tops up low pensions: in 2026 up to NOK 253,787 a year for single people (høy sats) and NOK 234,765 for couples, with 40 years of residence in Norway between 16 and 66; it is reduced by 80% of the income pension. You can draw the pension from 62 to 75, but before 67 only if it reaches the guarantee level (høy sats). Linking these ages to life expectancy from the 1964 cohort is planned but not yet legislated, so the calculator uses the current rules.
Employers must pay at least 2% of your salary up to 12 G (NOK 1,638,588) into the mandatory occupational pension (obligatorisk tjenestepensjon, OTP); many schemes pay more, at most 7% plus 18.1% on salary between 7.1 and 12 G. Without your figures the calculator assumes the legal minimum, paid since 2006 or since you started working, with an assumed real return, and turns the balance into an income. AFP, the contractual pension in private companies with a collective agreement, is not estimated but can be entered. For exact results, enter your pensjonsbeholdning or the forecast from nav.no “Din pensjon”, and your occupational balance or pension from norskpensjon.no. If you were born before 1963, part of your pension follows old rules that this estimate does not cover.
The calculator adds the national pension, your occupational pension and your own savings, compares the total with your target share of your last gross salary and shows how much to save each month to close the gap. That saving goes first into IPS (individuell sparing til pensjon): up to NOK 25,000 a year is deductible from ordinary income at a tax value of 22%, so you pay up to NOK 5,500 less tax. The money is locked until 62, paid out over at least 10 years and taxed as pension. Anything beyond that goes into unrestricted saving. All amounts are gross, before tax.
All pensions count as pension income: the net is shown after tax on ordinary income, bracket tax and the national insurance contribution, which is lower on pensions than on wages, minus the tax credit for old-age pensioners.