THE FUTURE OF FINNISH PENSIONS

The article describes the main features of the Finnish pension scheme and its major challenges in the future. Pension expenditure will incre ase due to the maturity of the pension scheme and due to demographic f actors. The costs will thus constitute a considerable burden for futur e wage earners. Early retirement will cause the biggest problem. Econo mic incentives are equally important and have already been dealt with to some extent in a recent reform. Still, the most decisive factor wil l be the complex total consisting of health factors, work capacity, th e quality of working life and the general development of the labour ma rket.