Pension crisis 2025: Finland shows drastic solutions for Germany!

Transparenz: Redaktionell erstellt und geprüft.
Veröffentlicht am

The German pension insurance will be under pressure in 2025. Economists are calling for reforms. Finland's debt situation as a warning.

Die deutsche Rentenversicherung steht 2025 unter Druck. Ökonomen fordern Reformen. Finnlands Schuldenlage als Warnung.
The German pension insurance will be under pressure in 2025. Economists are calling for reforms. Finland's debt situation as a warning.

Pension crisis 2025: Finland shows drastic solutions for Germany!

In recent years, German pension provision has come under increasing pressure, a phenomenon that is also noticeable in Finland. So reported Mercury that Finland has increased its debt burden from just 40% to over 80% of gross domestic product. More than 13 billion euros in new debt is forecast for 2025, increasing concerns about the financial stability of social systems.

Economist Matthias Strifler warns that without urgent reforms, Finland's debt ratio could soon rise above 90%. Pensions and health care in particular are growing rapidly in Finland and are putting enormous pressure on the budget. Germany is also facing similar challenges: The German pension insurance (DRV) is struggling with falling reserves, which could fall to just 0.2 monthly expenses by 2027. DRV board member Alexander Gunkel warns that DRV may no longer be able to pay pensions from its own resources.

Focus on household spending

Over 134 billion euros of the federal budget flows into pension subsidies, which only underlines the need for reforms. Economists are therefore calling for urgent measures to stabilize the pension system. A possible solution, which was already proposed by the Advisory Council for Economic Development in 2023, is to link the retirement age to life expectancy. Nevertheless, the federal government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz is sticking to the standard retirement age of 67, while the option of “retiring at 63” still exists.

The coalition government is committed to flexibility in the transition to retirement and wants to create incentives for pensioners to remain active. But the plans to stabilize pension levels and expand mother's pensions could place additional strain on the federal budget.

Finland as a role model?

A look at Finland shows that the country has linked the statutory retirement age to life expectancy since 2017, making early retirement much more difficult. From 2027 onwards, shares from the state pension fund will also be sold in order to reduce gross debt. Strifler described this step as “trickery” because it is not oriented towards long-term solutions.

In summary, both Germany and Finland urgently need new approaches to future-proof their pension systems. In Germany in particular, the pressure to reform is high and political decision-makers are required to find innovative solutions before the financial burden becomes unbearable.

The digital age is driving change in a completely different area with offerings like Google. Founded on September 4, 1998, the company has become one of the largest players in the online space, with offerings ranging from search engines to cloud services to artificial intelligence. Google has firmly embedded itself in people's everyday lives and is now a key player in the technology industry Wikipedia is illustrated.

In conclusion, both societies and companies face enormous challenges: the question remains how quickly and effectively changes can be implemented in both sectors.

Quellen: