Topical issues

Representatives from the liaison bodies of Finland and Poland met in Warsaw from 24 to 26 September 2025. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the coordination of social security and to further develop cooperation between the two countries.

Traditionally, cooperation between EU member states on pension matters has been cautious and limited. However, this has changed lately. In recent decades, EU pension policy has gained fresh momentum, and the Commission has taken a more active role in pension affairs. The Commission’s latest initiative is the Savings and Investment Union, which includes a strategy to increase the provision of supplementary pensions across Europe.

Around 55 per cent of Finns consider the pension reform proposal agreed in January to be good or very good. According to the Pension Barometer, around half of Finns have confidence in the pension system, although this has declined compared to previous surveys. Responses to the Barometer reflect an increase in general uncertainty.

The Finnish Centre for Pensions’ Pro Gradu Award has been given to Noora Lähteenmäki, who holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences. Her Master’s thesis examines the process of rehabilitation under the earnings-related pension scheme and the roles of different actors within the process. The Finnish Centre for Pensions annually awards an outstanding Master’s thesis on a pension-related topic.

In 2024, 31,000 partial old-age pensions started. Partial old-age pensions are used both to ease the financial situation and to reduce the workload.

Private savings for retirement have increased significantly over the past decade. According to a comprehensive survey by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, more than half of people aged 25–67 are saving or have saved for retirement in 2024.

The investment year 2024 was surprisingly good for pension funds worldwide. In the international performance comparison conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, the average real return exceeded long-term figures. Finnish pension funds were among the best in their category.

The Finnish Centre for Pensions (ETK) has published new guidelines on Finnish social insurance contributions in several languages. A new addition are the guidelines in Spanish.

The question of how much pension one gets for one’s contributions is often raised in the Finnish pension debate. The new country comparison in a recent analysis by the Finnish Centre for Pensions provides one way of examining the relationship between statutory pension contributions and old-age pensions. According to the comparison, the lowest old-age pension is about half of the contribution, while the highest old-age pension is almost one and a half times the contribution.

The popularity of early partial retirement has grown significantly in recent years. Among those born in 1956, about 20 per cent of those entitled to this benefit opted to retire before their retirement age, while among those born in 1959, the figure rose to 40 per cent, according to a new study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.