Nearly one million (997,600) Swedish people saw their monthly income from the guaranteed pension increase in August following the Rikstag’s decision to raise the guaranteed pension and income-based pension ceiling, the Swedish Pensions Agency (SPA) has found.

In a report, the SPA analysed the outcome of the changes in the law by comparing pension payments between July and August 2022.

It found that 655,800 pensioners who were already receiving a guaranteed pension received an average increase of SEK 900 for the month.

Meanwhile, 341,800 pensioners who did not previously get a guaranteed pension income received an average of SEK 500 for the first time, following the increase in how high an income-based pension they can have in order to be entitled to the guaranteed pension.

“The changes in the law have had more effects,” commented SPA analyst, Linnea Lantz.

“The pensioners who already had a guaranteed pension have received a higher amount and a large number of pensioners have received a guaranteed pension for the first time.

“For the vast majority of people, the pension is primarily affected by what you earn throughout your life, whether you have an occupational pension and at what age you choose to start drawing your pension.

“The guaranteed pension and the housing supplement are two different tax-financed basic protections for those with a low to normal pension.”

Around three quarters of the people who received an increased pension were women.

“Since women on average have a lower lifetime income than men, they also receive on average a lower pension,” said SPA senior adviser, Ann-Sofie Kraft Nilsson.

“Therefore, it is above all women who receive a higher pension when basic protection is increased.”

Under the changed law, the maximum level of guaranteed pension was increased to SEK 1,002, while the ceiling for income-based pensions rose to SEK 9,781 for an unmarried person and to SEK 8,855 for a married person.

For those born in 1937 or earlier, the increase was from SEK 8,985 to SEK 9,988 for the unmarried, and from SEK 8,027 to SEK 9,030 for the married.

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