Old-age pension
Retiring on an old-age pension depends on age. You can retire once you reach the lowest old-age pension age and when your employment has ended.
Public sector employees might have also occupational retirement age.
Find out your own retirement age. The online My Pension service is the easiest way to check your retirement age. You can also call our customer service.
If your earnings-related pension is small or you don’t receive one, you can receive a national pension. You can find out more about the national pension on the Kela website: When you are about to retire (Kela.fi)
Reaching retirement age does not mean that you have to apply for old-age pension. You can keep working for as long as you like.
Pension will continue to accrue until the age of 68, and even longer if you were born after 1957. After eligibility for old-age pension starts, a deferment increase of 0.4% will be added to the pension for each month between the general retirement age and the actual time of retirement.
General retirement age
The general retirement age is as follows:
Year of birth | General retirement age for old-age pension | Upper age limit at which pension accrues |
1956 | 63y 6m | 68y |
1957 | 63y 9m | 68y |
1958 | 64y | 69y |
1959 | 64y 3m | 69y |
1960 | 64y 6m | 69y |
1961 | 64y 9m | 69y |
1962–1964 | 65y | 70y |
1965– | to be confirmed |
to be confirmed |
How to apply for old-age pension
1. Check your information
Before applying, check the information in your pension record through the online My Pension service because the amount of your pension is calculated on the basis of the information contained in the record. At the same time, you can report any changes needed to your employment record.
2. Hand in your notice
Before applying for a pension, agree matters relating to retirement and termination of your employment with your employer.
Hand in your notice in good time. We recommend that you hand in your notice at least three months before you actually retire. This smooths the transition to retirement because you must end your employment before you can begin to receive your pension.
If you have recurring short-term jobs, you must also end these before retiring.
3. Apply for your pension online
You can apply for your old-age pension at the earliest six months before you intended to retire.
Apply for your old-age pension easily and quickly through Keva’s online My Pension service. When you log on to the service, your pension application contains most of your information – all you need to do is to check and complete the information.
Online My Pension (available in Finnish and Swedish only)
We will begin to process your application 40 days before the retirement starting date you have stated. Until then, you can change or complete the information in your application or cancel your application. If your file your application less than 40 days before the date your hope to start your retirement, we will start to process your application immediately. Once a start has been made on processing your application, you can no longer change the information in it.
While you are in the My Pension service, you can also apply for the national pension. We will forward your application to Kela.
You can also send your application by mail:
- Old age pension application form, pdf (Etk.fi)
- Residence and employment abroad. Appendix U, pdf (Etk.fi) (NB! If you have worked abroad and you are filing your pension application in writing, please also submit a completed Appendix U).
- Mail the application and the enclosures to:
Keva
FI-00087 KEVA
Old-age pension always starts on the 1st of the month. In other words, your earliest pension start date is the 1st of the month following the month in which you applied for the pension. The pension may also be granted with 3 months’ retroactive effect.
Please also see the general instructions for pension applications and what to do after receiving your pension decision.
Working while on pension
Are you planning to work or have you worked while on pension?
Read the instructions on our page: Working while on pension