Just over 2.3 million people received a general pension – which, among other things, can include income pension and premium pension – paid out by The Pensions Authority in January 2024. This amounted to an average of SEK 15,600 per month before tax in July 2024.
But many seniors also have an occupational pension and a private pension, which provides a little extra in the coffers. According to preliminary figures from 2023, the average total pension before tax for residents in Sweden landed at SEK 22,700 per month.
But there are big differences between men and women. While the men’s total average pension is SEK 26,500, the corresponding figure for women is SEK 19,400.
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Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT Big difference in pension between men and women
Recently, it also appeared, in a survey conducted by the Institute for Equality on behalf of the National Pensioners’ Organization (PRO), that the difference in pensions between men and women in Sweden is exceptionally large compared to the rest of the Nordic countries. Namely, the difference is 28 percent among Swedish pensioners, while it is 5 and 8 percent respectively in Iceland and Denmark.
– There are similar societies in the Nordic countries, in contrast to, for example, Germany, where there are still many who are housewives. This means that the differences are striking and we were quite shocked. We have known that there are big differences but not that big, have Joel Stadewho is an expert in pension issues at PRO, told TT earlier.
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Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT
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They need to save SEK 4,900 a month
Now a new report from Skandia also shows that women are at risk of receiving significantly lower pensions than men, even if the wage gap is slowly but surely decreasing.
– Despite great progress on the labor market, women still risk receiving a lower pension than men in the same profession in the future. It is therefore important to understand how different life decisions, such as part-time work during the early childhood years, affect the pension. My best advice is to talk about retirement at the kitchen table a little more often – start dating for retirement, they say Matthias Munterpension economist at Skandia, i a press release.
Matthias Munter. Photo: Press image/Skandia
The differences in pension learn, according to the reportbe the largest among men and women who are privately employed white-collar workers. More specifically, it can be stated that the pension gap for female systems analysts, who are 40 years of age or older, will be so large that a saving of up to SEK 4,900 a month is required for them to have an equivalent pension to a male systems analyst.
Female preschool managers in the same age group need to save SEK 200-300 a month to achieve an equal pension for equal work, and female communicators need to save SEK 1,020, according to the report.
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