Promoting health and well-being – Culture

Cultural activities which enhance health and well-being have continued to strengthen in municipalities

Cultural activities which enhance health and well-being have in municipalities. Art and culture are increasingly integrated into municipalities’ work to promote health and well-being. The information is based on a data collection conducted every two years, sent to the civil servants responsible for culture in mainland Finland’s municipalities.

The targets of cultural activities in the account and plan on wellbeing have become even more common

The targets related to cultural activities in the account and plan on wellbeing have increased significantly between 2019 and 2025. In 2025, 87 percent of municipalities reported that their account and plan on wellbeing included objectives concerning cultural activities (82% in 2023).

The municipality’s account and plan on wellbeing include targets related to cultural activities, percentage share of municipalities in 2019–2025.

The well-established cross-administrative structure for cultural activities which enhance health and well-being activities in municipalities and regions have continued to strengthen

Seventy one percent of municipalities had a well-established cross administrative structure coordinated by the sector responsible for promoting culture—in which dealing with cultural activities which enhance health and well-being. More than half (53 %) of municipalities reported having a similar structure coordinated by another entity. Cross administrative structures had generally developed positively compared to previous years. A large majority of municipalities (83 %) participated in an established cooperation structure between the wellbeing services county and the municipality—for example, a working group or forum—where cultural well being activities are discussed.

Cooperation structures between wellbeing services counties and municipalities have increased significantly compared to 2023, when such a structure existed in half (50 %) of municipalities. Nearly half (44 %) of municipalities had reached an agreement with the wellbeing services county on the organization of cultural well being activities in 2025.

About the data in more detail

• Explore the whole report (in Finnish)
• TEAviisari
• Indicator data in Sotkanet

Background information

• Data description (Data recources catalogue)
• Instructions for submitting data (in Finnish)
• Previous report 2023 (Julkari) (in Finnish)

Source

Insititute for Health and Welfare (THL). Kulttuurihyvinvointitoiminta kunnissa 2025. Data Brief 39/2025 (Julkari) (in Finnish)

Description of the data

The “Cultural activity in the municipality” material describes the measures, resources, and operational conditions related to culture in municipalities, with a particular focus on promoting cultural activities which enhance health and well-being. The collected information provides a knowledge base that can be used to plan, manage, and evaluate cultural activities as well as the promotion of health and well-being through arts and culture.

The development of information production and data resources is linked to the cultural policy guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Culture and their monitoring, as well as to the monitoring of the implementation of the Act on Municipal Cultural Activities (166/2019). 
Monitoring data is presented starting from 2019.

Update schedule

The data is published every two years in odd-numbered years.