PENSIONS

Disability pension statistics reflect the growth in the incidence of mental health disorders, which have overtaken cardiovascular disease as the most common reason for disability pensions.¹⁶ The prevalence of cardiovascular disease has been reduced significantly over the past two decades thanks to improvements in treatment and health education. On the contrary, disability pensions awarded because of severe mental health disorders increased fourfold between 1987 to 1995 (from 722 to 3022).¹⁷ Schizophrenia used to be the most common mental health disorder for which disability pensions were granted. Currently, depression is the leading cause (27%) of retirement due to mental health disorders.¹⁸

 

*The diagnoses are based on the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases, which was introduced in Finland in 1996.

By international standards, the average retirement age in Finland is relatively low, and it is one of the lowest in Europe²⁰. The ageing of the population puts extra pressure on the financing of social security and pensions. Persuading as many people as possible to stay at work until the normal retirement age and eliminating risk factors which lead to early retirement, such as burnout, would be a significant step.²¹,²²