Introduction of social welfare monitoring register will specify the estimate of the number of clients in services for older people
In total, 260,000 people were covered by services for older people, which means that around one in five Finns aged 65 or over was a client of services for older people in August and September 2025. Two out of three (66%) of those aged 85 or over were clients of the services.
These estimates are based on data from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s Social welfare monitoring register. The Social welfare monitoring register brings together social welfare data stored in Kanta services and separately provided by wellbeing services counties. Since autumn 2024, the data in the monitoring register have been published as regular statistics.
Home care and service housing with 24-hour assistance are the most common services
In 2024, 13% of people aged 75 and over received regular home care, and 6% lived in service housing with 24-hour assistance. Among those aged 85 and over, 29% received regular home care, and 15% lived in service housing with 24-hour assistance. The share of people receiving these services has decreased in both types of care.
Read more about home care
Read more about institutional care and housing services
RAI assessments provide information on clients’ functional capacity and service needs
In 2024, the RAI assessment of functional capacity and service needs had been performed on 56% (59,358) of regular older home care clients, 54% (5,615) of communal housing clients and 85% (56,487) of 24-hour care clients.
Variation by region and service type was observed in the prevalence of performing RAI assessments, clients’ service needs, functional capacity, implementation of inclusion, and care and service quality.
Fifteen per cent of home care clients, 29% of communal housing clients and 69% of 24-hour care clients needed a lot of help with daily living activities. Three out of four (77%) 24-hour care clients and more than half (52%) of communal housing clients had been diagnosed with dementia. In home care, 44% of the clients had been diagnosed with dementia. Emergency care visits were more common in home care (13%) and communal housing (10%) than in 24-hour care (6%).
Read more about the functional capacity and service needs of service recipients
Over 50,000 professionals delivering services
In October 2025, approximately 37,700 people* worked in service housing with 24-hour assistance, a decrease of seven percent compared with 2024. This decline is due to the reduction in the minimum staffing ratio prescribed by the Act on Services for Older People, from 0.65 to 0.6 employees per client. Ninety-eight percent of units met the new staffing requirement.
In units providing home care, around 18,300 people* were employed in October 2025. Of these units, 52 percent provided clients with at least the number of service hours specified in their care plans, and this proportion has remained stable (2023: 51%; 2024: 52%). Thirty-two percent of units delivered 90–99 percent of the planned service hours, while 17 percent delivered less than 90 percent.
Read more about personnel and service provision
*Calculated number of staff (see calculation formulas in the statistics quality report)
Number of recipients of compensation for informal care continued to grow
In 2024, a total of EUR 328 million was paid in compensation for informal care, which was around two per cent more than in the previous year. The number of informal carers was around 62,000, amounting to 1.3% of the adult population.
Of the carers, 70% were women and 30% were men. Their ages were evenly distributed, with half belonging to the group of 15–64-year-olds and half belonging to 65-year-olds or older. Of the carers, 53% were retired and 32% were employed.
Key reporting services
Institutional care and housing services in social services by wellbeing services county
Sotkanet indicators for informal care
Sotkanet indicators for personnel resources and time use in services for older people
Sotkanet indicators for regular home care clients (older people)
Next publications on the topic
The publication calendar for statistics
Contact details
Functional capacity and service needs: rai(at)thl.fi
Home care: avohilmo(at)thl.fi
Institutional and housing services: sosiaalihilmo(at)thl.fi
Informal care: samuli.pietila(at)thl.fi
Personnel and service delivery: vanhuspalvelulaki(at)thl.fi
Social services: [email protected]