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Like other European countries, the three Nordic EU member states face the implications for their pension systems of the arrival at retirement age of the numerous post-war cohorts and the steady rise in life expectancy. This article focuses on the specifics of pension reform in these countries, based on the national strategy drafted, as by all EU member states, in the Autumn of 2002. This approach, using a common unified framework, makes comparison casies among Nordic countries and with other European countries. The article tries to assess the extent to which the three countries will be able to keep at once a high standard of living for the elderly and the viability of their pension systems. Analysis of the reforms suggests that the Nordic countries have found an unusual approach, combining “active ageing” and modernization of pension management. The Swedish approach is typical in this respect, being based on individual retirement accounts allowing workers to trade off retirement age and pension value. Nonetheless, the generosity of the system will not be unaffected by the reforms, which appear to have weakened to some extent the universal component of the Nordic systems. On the other hand, benefits in kind, which are characteristic of the “Nordic social welfare model”, should continue to maintain the living standard of pensioners.