67% Finns trust pension system: Survey

Nearly two out of three (67%) Finns trust the pension system, according to the Pension Barometer conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

The trust in the pension system grew by seven percentage points year on year, said a press release.

Retirees (87%) and the 50-64-year-olds (74%), who are approaching retirement age, trust the pension system the most.

More than half of the young and middle-aged find the pension system fully or partially trustworthy. A fifth of the Finns have little or no trust in the pension system.

Overall, the views on the pension system are more positive this year than in the previous year. Two out of three respondents believe that the pensions they have earned are secure and that they will be paid out in due time while six out of 10 respondents believe that the pension guarantees a reasonable income in old age.

"Also, the increased trust is at least partly related to the favourable economic and employment development. These factors have been observed to be linked to trust," said Finnish Centre for Pensions Head of Research Susan Kuivalainen.

The Pension Barometer also asked citizens of their view on measures to be taken if the sustainability of the pension system needs to be improved. The given alternatives were raising pension contributions, raising the retirement age and cutting pensions.

None of the alternatives were popular. All age groups and socioeconomic classes opposed cuts to current and future pensions.

This year, the barometer also included questions about intergenerational fairness.

Half of the Finns find that the younger generations have to pick up an unreasonably big share of the pension tab. Every fourth respondent disagrees at least to some degree.

"The middle-aged are worried about the contribution burden of the young. About one-fifth agree completely with the statement. Retirees disagree the most. One-third of them do not find the contribution burden to be too high," said SannaTenhunen of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

The Pension Barometer of the Finnish Centre for Pensions was conducted by Kantar TNS Oy. The interviews were conducted over phone in May 2019 with 1,003 Finnish citizens aged between 18 and 79 years responding. The margin of error is circa three percentage points.