Amount of pension

Every year you work, increases your future pension. Your pension grows from your earnings, i.e. your gross salary. If you are a self-employed person, your pension is accrued from your confirmed YEL income. 

As an employee, you start to accrue pension from the age of 17 and as a self-employed person from the age of 18. Your earned income or confirmed YEL income accrues pension at a rate of 1.5% per year. 

Pension accrues one year at a time up to the maximum retirement age. The maximum retirement age is 69 years for those born in 1958-1961 and 70 years for those born in 1962 and later. 

Use the pension calculator to check your retirement age

The increment for deferred retirement may increase your pension if you do not apply for old-age pension immediately at your minimum retirement age. It increases your pension by 0.4% for each month by which you defer your retirement.

If you postpone your retirement by one year, for example, your pension will be increased by 4.8% (12 months x 0.4%). The increment for deferred retirement is permanent and increases your pension for the rest of your life.

However, no increment for deferred pension accrues if you receive unemployment benefit, old-age pension or disability pension at the same time.

The life expectancy coefficient reduces your pension at the start of your pension.

The life expectancy coefficient reduces the amount of your final pension according to the year in which you were born. Each age group has its own coefficient. The coefficient will be confirmed when you turn 62. The life expectancy coefficient for your age group will always be applied to your pension regardless of the age at which your old-age pension starts.

The purpose of the life expectancy coefficient is to make the pension assets last longer. It reduces the pensions that start the more the longer the expected average life expectancy increases.

However, you can also influence the amount of your pension yourself. Continuing to work longer can offset the effect of the life expectancy coefficient and increase the pension you receive.

Read more about the life expectancy coefficient on the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ website

The purpose of indices is to ensure that the level of your pension is maintained against changes in salary and price levels. Two indices are used in earnings-related pensions: the earnings-related pension index and the wage coefficient.

The earnings-related pension index protects your already paid pension against price increases. The amount of your pension will be adjusted every January according to the earnings-related pension index, where the impact of the change in consumer prices is 80% and the change in income level 20%.

The wage coefficient ensures that your accrued pension retains its value in relation to the general development of earnings. Wages and confirmed income for your working career are adjusted to the level of the year when the pension starts by using the wage coefficient. In the wage coefficient, changes in wage-earners’ income level are given a weighting of 80 per cent, whereas changes in consumer prices are given a weighting of 20 per cent.

Read more from our news: Indices for earnings-related pension cover for 2027 have been confirmed: Earnings-related pension will increase by 2.6 percent

Read more about indices on Työelake.fi

You may have accrued pension even when you were not working. Such situations include periods of illness and unemployment as well as family leave. Pension has accrued for the period of social benefits since 2005.

Social benefits for unpaid periods increase your pension when you also have earnings from work amounting to at least EUR 21,514.19 (at the 2026 level). The pension accrual percentage is the same as for working, i.e. 1.5% per year.

Some social benefits also increase your pension. Pension accrues from the income on which the benefit was based. When calculating pension for a social benefit period, a certain percentage of this income (earnings basis) is taken into account as pension accrual. The percentage depends on the benefit that you have received.  

The following earnings, for instance, accrue pension:

• Earnings-related unemployment allowance (75%)
• Parental daily allowance (121%)
• Daily sickness allowance and partial sickness allowance (62%)
• Daily allowance for a communicable disease (65%)
• Road, accident and military accident insurance daily allowance (65%)

Pension accrues on the period of earnings-related unemployment allowance up to the minimum retirement age. Other benefits accrue pension until the maximum retirement age.

However, pension does not accrue on earnings-based benefits if you concurrently receive cash rehabilitation benefit, disability pension, years-of-service pension or old-age pension. Pension is also not accrued on the general social security benefit paid by Kela, as it is based on needs assessment instead of earnings.

Your pension continues to accrue while you receive rehabilitation allowance. This applies to both rehabilitation allowance paid under the earnings-related pension system and rehabilitation allowance paid by Kela.

If you receive rehabilitation allowance under the earnings-related pension system, your pension accrues based on your average earnings during the five calendar years before you applied for rehabilitation. Of these earnings, 65% is taken into account when calculating your pension accrual.

If you receive rehabilitation allowance from Kela, the pension accrual is usually based on your earnings confirmed in taxation. Of these earnings, 55% is taken into account when calculating your pension accrual.

Pension also accrues on periods spent caring for a child under the age of 3 at home as well as on studies leading to a degree.

If you care for a child under the age of 3 at home and receive child home care allowance, you will accrue pension as if you were receiving a monthly salary of EUR 896.42 (in 2026). Pension is accrued on the period of child home care allowance only if you do not accrue pension for gainful employment.

If you have reached the age of 18, you will also accrue pension from a university or vocational degree. The pension is based on the same monthly income of EUR 896.42 (in 2026) as for child home care allowance. If you have several degrees, pension accrues for a maximum of five years. The pension accrued for a degree will be visible on your earnings-related pension record no later than in the spring of the year following your graduation.

Read more about the accrual of pension from social benefits at työeläke.fi

Read more about the pension accrued for your degree at työeläke.fi

If the amount of your earnings-related pension is low, you may also receive national pension paid by Kela.

In 2026, the national pension limit is 

• EUR 1,624.63 per month (living alone) or
• EUR 1,455.88 per month (cohabitating).

Only the amount of earned earnings-related pension is taken into account in the national pension income limit, no increase for late retirement.

Read more about the national pension on Kela's website