Population ageing is reshaping pension provision across Europe and beyond. At the same time, the policy choices to reform pension systems that we face are becoming more complex, more interconnected, and more consequential. Against this backdrop, the 2026 version of ETK Pension Research Forum – Pensions in Transition: Sustainability and Policy Challenges in Ageing Societies brought together recent research that sheds light on how pension systems can remain financially sustainable while ensuring adequacy, fairness and resilience over the life course.

With around 130 participants from research institutions, policymaking bodies, and stakeholder organizations representing 27 countries worldwide, the Forum stands out as a vital platform for showcasing up-to-date pension-related research. The high turnout underscores the importance of providing new information and connecting experts in the field of pensions.

Connecting knowledge producers and users is vital in policy-making

Susan Kuivalainen, Head of Research Department at the Finnish Centre for Pensions, opened the Forum. She underlined how evidence-based research is essential for shaping pension policy, and meaningful impact requires sustained interaction between researchers and policymakers.

Pension systems are linked to wealth and redistribution over the life course

The first part of the forum focused on wealth, redistribution and pension adequacy, highlighting how pension systems shape inequality far beyond old-age income alone.

In his presentation, Kun Lee (LISER & LIS) showed how our understanding of wealth inequality changes once pension entitlements are treated as part of individuals’ wealth. The analysis demonstrated that including public and private pension wealth substantially reduces measured wealth inequality and alters cross-country rankings. A key insight was that it is not only the design of pension benefits that matters, but the overall size and public–private mix of pension systems, which can crowd out inequality stemming from market wealth.

Taking a lifecycle perspective, Sander Muns (Tilburg University) examined the redistributive effects of pensions using synthetic lifecycle analyses based on rich administrative data from the Netherlands. His work illustrated why cross-sectional analyses can be misleading when assessing redistribution: pensions redistribute resources over long horizons, and these effects only become visible when contributions and benefits are assessed over entire working lives. The results also showed how different reform options shift redistribution between income groups and between women and men—insights that are highly relevant for forward-looking policy design.

Pension adequacy beyond income replacement

While redistribution is a core concern, pension systems are ultimately judged by how well they secure financial wellbeing in retirement. Drawing on evidence from the Netherlands, Olaf Simonse’s (Leiden University) research highlighted how financial vulnerability in retirement is shaped by earlier life course risks, such as health problems or migration background, as well as by non-financial resources. Factors like functional literacy and access to social support emerged as important buffers against financial difficulties in old age. The findings underline that pension adequacy cannot be addressed through pension policy alone, but is closely linked to labour market trajectories, health and social support systems.

Evidence of mechanisms and consequences of raising retirement ages

The second part of the forum turned to one of the most prominent policy responses to population ageing: increasing retirement ages.

Nicole Brumm and Christin Czaplicki (German Federal Pension Insurance) presented a comparative analysis of eight European countries that have introduced statutory links between life expectancy and retirement age. Their work highlighted the diversity of institutional designs and adjustment mechanisms across countries, as well as the importance of considering economic, social and political dimensions jointly. The presentation made clear that while linking retirement age to life expectancy can support sustainability, the specific design choices—and the surrounding policy context—are crucial for both effectiveness and public acceptance.

Complementing this cross-national perspective, Susanne Schaftenaar and Philip Berlin Jarhamn (Swedish Pensions Agency) presented causal evidence from Sweden’s 2023 pension reform, which increased the target retirement age. Their studies showed that the reform increased labour force participation and employment at older ages, with effects varying across income, education and migration background. Importantly, their research also demonstrated that reforms can influence retirement norms: changes in eligibility ages affected pension claiming behaviour even among individuals who were not directly affected financially by the reform.

Complexity in pension systems

Markus Jäntti (Stockholm University) and Ulla Hämäläinen (Ministry of Finance) provided insightful reflections through their commentator speeches. A key message from both commentators was that pension policy is highly complex.

Markus Jäntti pointed to the complicated institutional landscape of pension provision. Pensions systems often result from long political processes, are closely intertwined with other social policies, and affect the entire population, although differently at different stages of the life course. He emphasized that equity in pension systems cannot be understood without accounting for life‑cycle dynamics and especially differences in life expectancy across socioeconomic groups.

Ulla Hämäläinen discussed how population ageing poses major and growing challenges for pension systems. Further, she emphasized that the sustainability of pensions systems is also impacted by factors such as low fertility rates, economic risks related to the development in employment rates and earnings and financial instability. To address these evolving challenges, she stressed the importance of high-quality empirical research—especially causal studies—to guide policy decisions.

Taken together, the presentations at the ETK Pension Research Forum 2026 illustrated the multifaceted nature of pension policy challenges in ageing societies. They showed the importance of:

• analysing pensions over the life course rather than at a single point in time,
• considering pensions as part of individuals’ broader economic resources,
• recognising heterogeneity in how reforms affect different groups, and
• grounding policy debates in empirical evidence.

Stay tuned for the 2027 ETK Pension Research Forum

The next year’s ETK Pension Research Forum will continue our efforts in providing a relevant platform for connecting researchers and stakeholders, while advancing pension research. The next call for papers will open in autumn 2026. We look forward to welcoming you to the next ETK Pension Research Forum in March 2027.

Read more on Etk.fi:

• ETK Pension Research Forum: Pensions in Transition – Sustainability and Policy Challenges in Ageing Societies – Finnish Centre for Pensions
• Webinar ETK Pension Research Forum on 16 March 2026 – Open call for presentations – Finnish Centre for Pensions

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