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Effective retirement age in the Finnish earnings-related pension scheme

In 2012, the average effective retirement age in the earnings-related pension scheme was 60.9 years. This is an increase of 0.4 years from the previous year. The effective retirement age has risen by two years from the level prior to the pension reform, which exceeds the forecast. The change in effective retirement age is measured by the expected effective retirement age, based on pension contingencies in different age cohorts.

Last year the total number of new pensioners dropped significantly compared to the previous year. The decrease can also be seen in the number of pension applications. Last year was the first year when new unemployment pensions were no longer granted. The discontinuation of the unemployment pension did not, however, serve to increase the number of retirees on a disability pension, which dropped ten per cent from the previous year. On the other hand, an increasing number of persons retired on an old-age pension. Otherwise changes have been small, and pension contingencies as a whole have decreased.

The expected effective retirement age in the private sector was 61.1 years. This is an increase of 0.4 years from the previous year. The effective retirement age in the public sector also rose to the same extent and was 61.5 years last year. Until the year 2006, the effective retirement age was higher in the private sector than in the public sector. In 2007, the situation became the reverse.
The difference between men and women regarding the effective retirement age has diminished clearly in the last few years. There is hardly any difference anymore; men and women retire at the same age. Last year the expected effective retirement age of men was 60.9 years, and 60.8 years for women. Previously, the expected effective retirement age was clearly higher for women than for men.
Roughly 69,000 persons retired on an earnings-related pension in 2012, which is 2,000 less than the previous year.