How Finnish earnings-related pension accrues
See what one year of salary adds to your future monthly pension, and what still accrues when you are not being paid.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Calculation method
In 2026 every employee aged 17 to 69 in Finland earns pension at 1.5% of annual earnings, so a year on €40,000 adds €50 to your future monthly earnings-related pension (työeläke). That is the official shortcut published by Työeläke.fi: multiply annual pay by 1.5% and by the life expectancy coefficient, then divide by twelve. The rate is now the same at every age, because the higher accrual that older employees used to get ended with 2025. Your whole gross salary counts; the 7.30% employee pension contribution withheld from your pay does not reduce the earnings base. Pension also keeps building when pay stops. During earnings-related unemployment allowance it accrues on 75% of the wage behind the allowance, during parental allowance on 121%, during sickness allowance on 62%, and on 65% for rehabilitation and similar benefits. A parent caring for a child under three at home on child home care allowance accrues on a notional €896.42 a month.
How much pension one year earns
Pension from one year
€52.50/mo
| From 40 years | €2,100/mo |
| Share of salary | 60 % |
| Accrual rate | 1.5 % |
One year of pay, in euros of pension
The formula on Työeläke.fi is annual pay × 1.5% × life expectancy coefficient ÷ 12. The Employees Pensions Act states the rule as accrual of 1.5% on each year’s pensionable earnings. The table leaves out the coefficient and indexation so you can see the raw build-up.
| Annual salary | From 1 year | From 10 years | From 40 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| €24,000 | €30.00/mo | €300/mo | €1,200/mo |
| €30,000 | €37.50/mo | €375/mo | €1,500/mo |
| €40,000 | €50.00/mo | €500/mo | €2,000/mo |
| €50,000 | €62.50/mo | €625/mo | €2,500/mo |
| €70,000 | €87.50/mo | €875/mo | €3,500/mo |
In real life, earnings from earlier years are revalued with a wage coefficient before the pension starts, and the total is then multiplied by your cohort’s life expectancy coefficient (0.94643 for people born in 1964). Forty years on €40,000 therefore comes to roughly €1,893 a month at the earliest retirement age.
That is also why the table understates real pensions: old earnings are revalued with the wage coefficient (palkkakerroin), 1.712 in 2026, so a salary from twenty years ago is not frozen at its nominal value when your pension is calculated.
A short career in Finland still counts
Many people who move to Finland for work assume a few years will not matter. They do, in proportion: accrual is linear, so three years on €50,000 add €188 a month for the rest of your life, before the coefficient. Nationality and residence play no role for the earnings-related part; insured pay is all that counts. Employees accrue from age 17; self-employed people from 18. Accrual ends at 69, and the upper retirement age for anyone born in 1962 or later is 70.
When you are not being paid
Pension keeps accruing during many benefit periods, but on a fixed share of the income the benefit is based on. The example assumes a benefit base of €30,000 a year, paid for a full year.
| Benefit | Share of base | Pension from one year |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings-related unemployment allowance | 75% | €28.13/mo |
| Pregnancy and parental allowance | 121% | €45.38/mo |
| Sickness allowance | 62% | €23.25/mo |
| Rehabilitation, adult education allowance and similar | 65% | €24.38/mo |
| Child home care allowance (notional income) | €896.42/mo | €13.45/mo |
Pension from unpaid periods is paid only if your career earnings reach a small statutory minimum, an amount set in euros and indexed each year. To estimate the allowance itself, use the unemployment allowance calculator.
Three careers on the same salary
Holding pay at €3,500 a month for 40 years, the accrued monthly pension before the coefficient comes out as follows. An unbroken career gives €2,100. Swap one year for parental allowance and two years for earnings-related unemployment allowance and you get €2,085, only €15 less, because the parental year actually earns more than a working year. Ten years part-time at 60 % of the salary gives €1,890. Accrual is linear, so part-time years simply count in proportion.
Holding two jobs works the same way: each employer’s insured pay accrues separately, and two €1,500 jobs earn exactly the pension of one €3,000 job, €45 a month per year. Work after your earliest retirement age still accrues at 1.5%, and postponing the pension adds a deferral increase on top; see deferring your pension.
Contribution versus accrual
Your pension contribution in 2026 is 7.30% of pay; employers pay 17.10% on average, 24.40% in total according to the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The money funds current pensions and buffer funds. Your own accrual is defined by the 1.5% rule, not by how much was paid in for you. From 2017 to 2025 some age groups paid a higher contribution and earned a higher rate; both differences are gone from 2026, and anything accrued at the old higher rate is kept.
Your pension record (työeläkeote) lists every employment and benefit period with the pension accrued so far. Check it after changing jobs, and enter the accrued amount in the pension calculator for a projection to your retirement age.