Effective retirement age rose also in the second year of the corona pandemic. In 2021, the expected effective retirement age within the earnings-related pension system was 62.4 years. It increased by six months compared to 2020.The underlying reasons for the rise were a significant drop in the number of new retirees on a disability pension and the rising retirement age following the 2017 pension reform.

1. Effective retirement age
in the earnings-related
pension system in 2021
www.etk.fi/statistics
Effective Retirement Age

2. |
Content
• Number of new retirees on an earnings-related pension
• Development of effective retirement age
• Employment
• Expected length of working life
9 Feb. 2022
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 2

3. |
Drive to defer retirement monitored by means of
• Expected effective retirement age
– corresponds in principle to life expectancy
– describes average effective retirement age if retirement and mortality rates
remain unchanged at the level of the statistical year
– is unaffected by demographic age structure
• Employment rate of older people
• Expected length of working life
– depicts the number of years that a person at a certain age can be expected
to be in an employment relationship or work as a self-employed person
during their remaining life span
– based on a method that uses cross-sectional data on mortality risk rates,
labour force participation rates and employment rates
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 3
9 Feb. 2022

4. |
Effective retirement age in 2021
• Expected effective retirement age
– 62.4 years (for 25-year-olds)
– 64.0 years (for 50-year-olds)
• Clear rise in effective retirement age
– 25-year-old’s expected effective retirement age was up by 0.5 years from 2020,
– 50-year-old’s expected effective retirement age was up by 0.2 years.
• New retirees numbered 61,500 - around the same number as in 2020, but
considerably below the level before the 2017 pension reform
– those born between 1 April and 31 December 1957 reached their retirement age (63
years and 9 months)
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 4
9 Feb. 2022

5. |
New retirees on an earnings-related pension
2005–2021, by pension benefit
9 Feb. 2022
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 5
0
10 000
20 000
30 000
40 000
50 000
60 000
70 000
80 000
90 000
2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
Persons
61,540 persons retired on an earnings-related pension in 2021 (excl. the partial old-age pension)
61,312 persons retired on an earnings-related pension in 2020 (excl. the partial old-age pension)
* The number of new retirees does not include people who retired on a part-time pension or a partial old-age pension.
Partial
old-age pension
Part-time pension
Special pension
for farmers’
Unemployment
pension
Disability
pension
Old-age pension

6. |
New retirees on an earnings-related pension, by age
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 6
0
2 000
4 000
6 000
8 000
10 000
12 000
14 000
16 000
18 000
20 000
-54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69-
Persons
Age at onset of pension
2020 2021
9 Feb. 2022

7. |
New retirees on an earnings-related pension, by age
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 7
0
2 000
4 000
6 000
8 000
10 000
12 000
14 000
16 000
18 000
20 000
22 000
24 000
26 000
-54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69-
Persons
Age at onset of pension
2007 2014 2021
9 Feb. 2022

8. |
New retirees on an earnings-related disability
pension in 2020 and 2021
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 8
0
200
400
600
800
1 000
1 200
1 400
1 600
1 800
2 000
18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63
Persons
Age at onset of pension
2020 2021
9 Feb. 2022

9. |
Expected effective retirement age
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 9
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
Ikä
50-year-olds
25-year-olds
9 Feb. 2022
64.0
yrs
62.4
yrs

10. |
New retirees on an earnings-related pension as a
proportion of all insured persons, 25–49-year-olds
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 10
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
%
Age at end of statistical year
2019 2020 2021
9 Feb. 2022

11. |
New retirees on an earnings-related pension as a
proportion of all insured persons, 50–69-year-olds
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 11
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
%
Age at end of statistical year
2019 2020 2021
9 Feb. 2022

12. |
Rising retirement age and changes to retirement
• In 2021, a total of 61,500 persons retired on an earnings-related pension
– up by 200 from 2020
– down by more than 14,000 persons compared to pre-reform level
– down by 3,400 persons from the level before the corona pandemic (2019)
– pension contingency down in particular among the 63-year-olds and younger
• 44,000 new retirees on an old-age pension
– up by 1,900 (4.6%) from 2020
– eligibility age for an old-age pension (63 years and 9 months) reached by those born
between 1 April and 31 December 1957
• 17,500 new retirees on an earnings-related disability pension
– down by 1,600 (8.4% from 2020 and 13.8% from 2019)
– 30% of the pensions started as partial pensions
• In 2021, around 13,000 persons chose to take out a partial old-age
pension
– same as in 2020
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 12
9 Feb. 2022

13. |
Expected effective retirement age:
objective and realisation
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 13
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026
Expected
Objective set
for 2025
62.4 years
The objective set in 2009 was reached in 2021.
Expected
effective
retirement age
for 25-year-olds
9 Feb. 2022

14. |
Outlook
• The 2005 and 2017 pension reforms have increased the effective retirement
age
– in recent years, raising the retirement age has deferred retirement and reduced the
number of new retirees on an old-age pension
– the number of new disability pension retirees has declined
– the total number of new retirees has declined significantly
• Future trends will depend on changes in behaviour
– intended retirement age has risen
– retirement decisions influenced by multiple factors
• Future trends will depend on economic outlook and changes in working life
• The exceptional times have probably reduced the number of new retirees.
⇒ The number of new retirees may go up considerably in 2022. It would be no surprise if
the numbers of new retirees on old-age pension and disability pension increased
clearly from 2021.
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 14
9 Feb. 2022

15. |
Employment rates for the working-age population
(15–64 years), younger people (25–34 years) and older
people (55–64 years)
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 15
Source: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey, ISSN=1798-7830. Helsinki, Statistics Finland
9 Feb. 2022
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
%
15–64 yrs 25–34 yrs 55–64 yrs

16. |
Employment rate for persons aged 55–64
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 16
Source: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey, ISSN=1798-7830. Helsinki, Statistics Finland
1 Feb 2022
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
%
55–59 years 60–64 years
Employment rates in 2021: 55–59-year-olds 79.4% and 60–64-year-olds 56.9%
Employment rates in 2020: 55–59-year-olds 77.9% and 60–64-year-olds 54.7%

17. |
Employment rates for persons aged 55–67
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 17
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67
%
2002 2007 2012 2017 2021
Source: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey, ISSN=1798-7830. Helsinki, Statistics Finland
9 Feb. 2022

18. |
Unemployment rates for persons aged 55–64
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 18
Source: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey, ISSN=1798-7830. Helsinki, Statistics Finland
9 Feb. 2022
Employment rates in 2021: 55–59-year-olds 6.6% and 60–64-year-olds 8.6%
Employment rates in 2020: 55–59-year-olds 6.6% and 60–64-year-olds 7.9%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
% 55–59 years 60–64 years

19. |
Average employment rates of 55–64-year-olds in
Nordic and EU countries in 2011-2020
9 Feb. 2022
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 19
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
%
Iceland
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Finland
EU27
Source: Eurostat, Employment, Labour Force Surveys

20. |
Strong employment trends among older people
(55–64-year-olds)
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 20
• Employment rate took an upward turn again in 2021
– employment rate of working-age population in 2021 was 72.3% (up by 1.6 percentage
points from 2020)
– employment rate outlook of the older population has been favourable in the 2000s
– employment rate in age group 55–59 reached a statistical record-high at 79.4 per cent– up
by 1.5 percentage points from 2020
– employment rate of age group 60–64 was record-high at 56.9% – up by 2.2 percentage
points from 2020
• Employment rates for older people remained lower than in other Nordic
countries in 2020
– Denmark closest to Finland, 3.9% ahead
– EU15 countries lagging behind Finland by 7.9 percentage points
• Dip due to the corona pandemic had no significant impact on the employment
or unemployment rates of the older population
9 Feb. 2022

21. |
Expected length of working life for a 15-year-old
9 Feb. 2022
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 21
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
Years
Expected labour force participation
Working life expectancy

22. |
Working life expectancy for a 15-year-old
9 Feb. 2022
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 22
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
Years
Males Females

23. |
Length of working life in 2021
Jari Kannisto | Finnish Centre for Pensions | 23
• Expected labour force participation in 2021 was 39.0 years
– up by 0.9 years from 2020
– up by 4.0 years in the 2000s
– for men, up by 3.6 years in the 2000s
– for women, up by 4.3 years in the 2000s
• Working life expectancy in 2021 was 35.9 years
– up by 0.9 years from 2020
– up by 4.4 years in the 2000s
– 36 years for men (up by 3.6 years in the 2000s)
– 35.8 years for women (up by 5.2 years in the 2000s)
9 Feb. 2022