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In Europe, retirement ages keep rising. Yet, in many European countries, some people can retire earlier than others. They are granted a special pension based on their hard jobs. Is this type of benefit needed?

The partial old-age pension has proved to be a popular pension benefit in Finland. Its popularity grew particular in 2022 and seems to continue. In relation to the population, there are more people on a partial old-age pension in Finland than in Sweden or Norway.

There’s no need to apply for an A1 certificate separately for each business trip abroad. Instead, it’s possible to apply for an A1 certificate that is valid for two years. One certificate is thus enough to secure the social security of an employee who often goes abroad on business trips.

European pensioners get the main part of their income from pensions, but also from work, capital, and other social benefits than pensions. Our recent study shows that the perceived income adequacy depends not only on the amount but also on the source of income.

Citizens, journalists and experts enjoy making comparisons which put their national pension systems into a wider context. It is common to compare retirement ages between countries. Although such an exercise can be informative, a simple comparison can result in misunderstandings. Here are three tips to avoid common mistakes.

People retire at a considerably later age in Finland and Denmark than before. In the last decade, these two countries have caught up with the other Nordic countries in this respect. Also in Estonia, people retire at a significantly higher age. In Norway, on the other hand, the effective retirement age has dropped steeply. What pension policy solutions underly the changes?

Pension systems are not easy to comprehend. In Europe several different pension designs coexist. A short story might shed some light on why people take pride in the pension system of their country.

Working life is constantly changing. This has consequences for pensions as well. In Finland, the good news is that employment rates have been rising, careers have been relatively stable and various non-standard forms of employment are covered by the pension system. The challenge is to anticipate developments in the labour market that affect the economic and social sustainability of the pension system in the longer run.

While there is rich research on Finnish retirement, relatively little is known about personal motivations behind retirement decisions. In latest round of the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Finnish pensioners were asked a simple question: Why did you retire? More than 80 per cent indicated that they retired because they became eligible for a pension. Compared to other European pensioners, the influence of poor health on retirement decisions in Finland raises concern.

The minimum net pension in Norway is the highest in all Nordic countries, but the purchasing power is the largest in Denmark. The Danish can buy a Big Mac each day of the year with one month’s minimum pension. The Finns have to settle for a Big Mac every second day. The Swedes get the lowest number of Big Macs with their monthly minimum pension.