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Statistics and registers

Social assistance

The Register of Social Assistance contains data collected annually on social assistance recipients. Each year, statistics on social assistance clients are compiled based on the register data. The client statistics provide information on the number and types of social assistance recipients and the costs of social assistance. The statistics also include cross-sectional data on clients in November. The dare received from municipalities. Data on social assistance recipients have been collected since 1985. However, comparable information on client numbers is available from 1969 onwards.

Statistical Report 43/2011, Social assistance 2010 was published in Finnish on the 9th December 2011. It will appear in English later on these pages.


Social assistance 2009

The number of households and persons receiving social assistance fell throughout the early 2000s, but began to rise again in 2009. In 2009, social assistance was granted to a total of 238 755 households and 377 688 individuals in Finland. Altogether 7.1 per cent of the Finnish population received social assistance. Both the number of households and the number of persons receiving social assistance increased by about 11 per cent on 2008. The number of clients receiving social assistance rose to the level it was on in 2005.

The situation is a reflection of the unemployment trends in 2008−2009 and conditions of economic slowdown in Finland. Like the recession in the early 1990s, the economic downturn struck young adults aged 18−29 particularly hard; there was a 20 per cent increase of this age group in total client numbers compared with the previous year, and an increase of more than 40 per cent among new clients. However, unemployment and social assistance statistics seem to indicate that the most recent economic downturn may not continue as steeply as the early 1990s recession.

Gross expenditure on social assistance has been increasing since 2005. In 2009, expenditure on social assistance came to EUR 615 million, an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year. In real terms, expenditure on social assistance has increased by 30 per cent since 2005. This trend reflects the fact that recipients of social assistance rely on this form of assistance for a longer time than previously.

Figure 1. Social assistance 19902009: expenditure (at 2009 prices),
households and recipients

Source of information:
Toimeentulotuki 2009 − Utkomststöd 2009 − Social Assistance 2009.
Statistical Summary 31/2010, 27th December 2010
Official Statistics of Finland. Social Protection 2010. THL.

Further information:
Hannele Tanhua tel. +358 20 610 7369 and
Sirkka Kiuru tel. +358 20 610 7099

E-mail: firstname.lastname@thl.fi


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Published 31.5.2006, Updated 10.1.2012

Last updated 10.1.2012
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National Institute for Health and Welfare - P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland - Map- Tel. +358 20 610 6000, Fax +358 9 761 307, E-mail firstname.lastname@thl.fi