A record number of people in Finland applied for a partial old-age pension last year, with 68 per cent planning to continue working in retirement, research by Elo has found.

According to the Finnish Centre for Pensions, nearly 25,000 Finns applied for a partial old-age pension in September-December 2022 alone, while a year earlier the number of applications during the same period was just over 4,000.

“The same phenomenon was also visible here at Elo: The number of applications for a partial old-age pension increased many times compared to the previous year,” explained Elo director of pensions, Saija Sundén.

“There are now a huge number of people in working life who enjoy both a salary and a pension at the same time.”

In total, 34,600 partial old-age pensions were started in 2022, while in the previous two years new partial-old age pensions numbered around 13,000 a year.

The record number of partial old-age pension application was primarily attributed to a large increase in the pension index at the end of last year.

According to Elo’s survey, 64 per cent of Finns felt that the partial old-age pension encouraged them to work longer, with a quarter (25 per cent) stating that they intended to continue working as long as they can.

A third (33 per cent) of respondents said they would continue working until the minimum retirement age and 22 per cent stated they would work until the target retirement age.

“A partial old-age pension makes it possible to work less, which in turn can help the elderly to survive in working life longer, and the elderly staying in working life longer than currently benefits the person, the employer and society as a whole,” said Sundén.

Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of the survey respondents said they applied for a partial old-age pension last year to benefit from the large index increase, while 18 per cent applied because they were informed about the entire pension option.

One in 10 (10 per cent) felt the index increase had no effect on their decision to apply for a partial old-age pension, while the remainder would have applied anyway or applied early because of the index increase.

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