Finnish pension company Varma has reported the number of partial old-age pension applications it received in 2022 almost tripled compared to the number of applications in 2021.

Varma stated that the “exceptionally large” index increase for pensions at the beginning of 2023 significantly increased the number of applications for both partial old-age pensions and old-age pensions.

The company issued approximately 58,000 pension and rehabilitation decisions in 2022.

At the end of the year, the number of people receiving a guaranteed pension
had increased by 6,000 year-on-year to 352,000.

The increase in the number of partial old-age pension applications was especially large, rising by as much as 190 per cent compared to 2021.

It reported that it received a particularly large number of applications between September and November.

During the year, almost 7,000 of its customers received a partial old-age pension, with the majority (65 per cent) being men.

The increase in the earnings-related pension index was also reflected in the number of old-age pension applications in 2022, with applications rising by 26 per cent.

“The number of applications is largely explained by the pensions in payment due to the index increase at the beginning of this year, which increased the number of pensions by an exceptional amount, 6.8 per cent,” commented Varma pension service director, Tarja Syvälä.

“This prompted many to apply for a partial old-age pension around 2022.”

Varma noted that the increased interest in index increases and pensions was also observed in its online and telephone service.

Customer end-to-end pension estimates tripled to 18,000 and the number of calls to its pension guidance service increase by 80 per cent in October-November.

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