You accrue an earnings-related pension for any work in Finland, however short. Finnish pension contributions cannot be refunded or transferred abroad when you leave, but the earnings-related pension you accrued is paid when due wherever you live once claimed.
Two pensions, two rulebooks
Finland’s old-age pension can be an earnings-related pension, a national pension from Kela, or both; the national pension is for those whose earnings-related pension is small or nil.
A foreign national working in Finland earns an earnings-related pension in the same way as Finnish citizens, as outlined by the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The employer arranges the insurance. Work done in Finland is insured in Finland whatever the employer's base, your nationality or where you came from.
If you are starting a business in Finland, self-employed people must arrange their own pension insurance with a Finnish pension insurance company.
How the earnings-related pension accrues
You accrue earnings-related pension for any work in Finland, however short, and it stays intact when you change jobs.
As of 2026, pension accrues at 1.5% of gross annual earnings. Employees accrue pension from age 17 and the self-employed from 18, up to age 69. The Finnish Centre for Pensions' (tyoelake.fi) example is EUR 40,000 earned in a year accruing EUR 50 a month of pension, before the life expectancy coefficient.
You earn new pension until insurance ends, at 69 if born 1958–1961 and at 70 if born in 1962 or later. Fringe benefits such as lunch benefit, a company phone or a company car also accrue pension.
What it costs you in 2026
The employee's pension contribution in 2026 is 7.3% of the monthly wage for all employees. The employer deducts the employee's share from wages and it is shown on the payslip. A smaller employer with an insurance contract pays a fixed 24.85% in 2026, including the employee's share.
General terms regarding your employment contract and working arrangements are covered under employment rights in Finland.
Leaving Finland
Finnish pension contributions cannot be transferred to another country or refunded when you leave.
If you move abroad, the earnings-related pension is paid when due wherever you live. The earnings-related pension accrued in Finland is paid regardless of nationality or country of residence; pensions currently cannot be paid into sanctioned Russian banks.
Without Finnish identification you can request your pension record from your pension provider or by phoning the Finnish Centre for Pensions on +358 29 411 2110. Logging in to the pension record with eIDAS identification is announced for 1 January 2027; it is not yet available.
Retirement age
Someone born in 1961 can retire at 64 years and 9 months. Those born 1962–1964 retire at 65.
For those born in 1965 or later, the retirement age is tied to the life expectancy of the age group and rises by at most two months per year group; the online calculator gives the exact age.
The old-age pension does not start automatically; you must claim it. Claim it around six months before it should begin; earnings-related and national pension can be claimed at the same time. The old-age pension can be claimed up to three months in retrospect.
An employee must have ended the employment relationship before the old-age pension starts; the self-employed may continue.
Claiming from abroad
How you apply for your Finnish pension from outside Finland depends on where you live, as detailed by the tyoelake.fi guidelines on pensions paid abroad:
- EU/EEA, the UK, or Switzerland: If you live in an EU/EEA country, the UK or Switzerland, you send the claim to the pension authority where you live, which forwards it to Finland.
- Social security agreement countries: The same applies in social security agreement countries listed by the Finnish Centre for Pensions—Australia, Canada, Chile, India, Israel, Japan, Quebec, South Korea and the United States—though some agreements cover only the earnings-related pension.
- China: Residents of China claim the earnings-related pension directly from the Finnish Centre for Pensions or their pension provider on the Finnish form.
- Non-agreement countries: In a country with no social security agreement you can still claim the earnings-related pension directly from Finland.
The earnings-related pension is paid monthly to the bank account on the claim; a very small pension is paid as a lump sum.
Kela's national pension
To get Kela's old-age pension under Kela benefits you must live in Finland or have lived there at least three years after reaching 16.
You can get Kela's old-age pension from age 65 (it must be claimed); for those born in or after 1965 the age follows the year of birth. The full national old-age pension for someone living alone is EUR 787.07 a month, reduced by other pensions.
Time abroad can reduce the national pension if you lived in Finland less than 80% of the time between 16 and the start of the pension.
Exporting Kela's pension abroad is subject to specific rules:
- Since 1 February 2025 Kela no longer pays national old-age and disability pensions to people living in an EU/EEA country, the UK or Switzerland.
- The agreements with the United States, Canada, Chile and Israel cover Kela old-age and survivors' pensions, under conditions; the agreement with Australia covers old-age pensions.
- Moving permanently to any other country means Kela suspends the pension from the start of the following month.
Kela's guarantee pension can be paid if all your pensions before tax total EUR 978.33 a month or less, after you have claimed every other pension you may be entitled to.
Checking your pension record
Your future pension is calculated from the data on your pension record, so missing employment should be reported to the provider named on it.
The Finnish Centre for Pensions advises checking the record regularly, for example once a year. The record shows:
- Private and public sector employment
- Self-employment
- Certain benefits that accrue pension, such as care of your own children under 3
The record does not include work done abroad for a foreign employer.
