800,000 clients in social welfare
Social welfare is delivered in various social services. Social welfare clients also include persons whose need for services is still being assessed.
In July, August and September 2025, the number of social welfare clients was estimated at 790,000. The estimate is based on data from THL’s Social welfare monitoring register.
Target groups grouped according to service task
Social welfare has seven service tasks which are divided according to their target group:
Read more about the number of clients of the service tasks (in Finnish)
Monitoring of social services developing over the next few years
At the moment, the data on social services is still collected from different sources.
The introduction of Kanta Services and the Social welfare monitoring register using it will multiply the information we have on social services in the next few years.
“Improving the quality of information is long-term work in which THL supports wellbeing services counties. We thank the wellbeing services counties for the work they have done so far. It is now starting to bear fruit,” says Chief Specialist Martta Forsell.
Read more about pilot data (in Finnish)
Social welfare costs total EUR 11 billion
In 2024, the social welfare expenditure was EUR 11.2 billion. Social welfare accounted for 45 per cent of the net healthcare and social welfare costs. Healthcare and social welfare costs can also be grouped in other ways.
