How is 27 billion euros in social and health care funding allocated?

The state provides the wellbeing services counties with approximately 27 billion euros in funding each year. The amount is substantial: it accounts for roughly one third of the state’s total annual budget. By comparison, expenditure on basic education amounts to around six billion euros per year.

“The total amount of social and health care funding has increased rapidly in recent years and will continue to grow over the next few years. The main reason is population ageing,” says Tuukka Holster, Senior Specialist at THL.

THL published proposal for the further developement of the health and social services financing model

The financing model for wellbeing services counties requires further development, and the work should examine issues such as the incentives in the current model, the demographic model and the counties’ taxation rights. THL states that there is no single financing model that would meet all expectations. Different models emphasise different aspects. Assessing these priorities requires political consideration.

THL’s press release on the development of the health and social services financing model

Processing schedules for datasets used in health and social services financing calculations will change in autumn 2026

The processing schedules for data from the Care Register (Hilmo), used in the needs assessment calculations for health and social services financing, will change gradually starting next autumn. The aim is that, within the next few years, the calculations will be able to use morbidity data that are one year more recent than at present. Currently, the needs assessment calculations for health and social services financing use datasets that are three years old.

The changes to the processing schedules are as follows

The 2024 statistical year Hilmo datasets were frozen on 28 February 2026 in accordance with the previous schedule. They will affect financing for 2027 and 2028.
The 2025 statistical year Hilmo datasets will already be frozen on 31 August 2026, which is six months earlier than under the previous schedule. THL will review and correct the datasets until the end of February 2027. The 2025 data will be used in financing calculations for 2028 and 2029.
The 2026 statistical year Hilmo datasets will be extracted for the first time on 28 February 2027 and frozen definitively on 15 April 2027. THL will continue correcting any errors detected in the datasets after this date, up to March 2028 at the latest. The data will be used in financing calculations for 2029 and 2030.
THL will announce later the extraction schedules for the 2027 datasets to be carried out in 2028.

The demographic funding model

The wellbeing services counties are responsible for organising social and health care services for their residents. State funding allocated to the counties is based on service needs. These needs are mainly determined by the morbidity of the population.

An alternative often proposed is the demographic funding model. What does it mean, and what are its advantages and disadvantages? THL Senior Researcher Konsta Lavaste explains.

About the topic in more depth

Wellbeing services counties receive 400 million euros based on the promotion of health and well-being

The amount of state funding for social and health care allocated to wellbeing services counties is largely based on residents’ service needs, which are assessed on the basis of morbidity.

Read more about the funding of wellbeing services counties

THL plays a significant role in calculating social and health care funding

THL maintains and updates the data basis used to calculate the population’s service needs and defines the needs coefficients on the basis of which each wellbeing services county receives its needs-based share of social and health care funding.

Read more about THL’s role in social and health care funding

Background explained: Frequently asked questions on social and health care funding

Organisers of social and health care services need sufficient funding to cover the costs arising from the organisation of social and health care services.

Frequently asked questions on social and health care funding

Client fees in social welfare and health care may increase at a higher rate in the future – Government wants to link the fees to the wellbeing services county index

At the end of April, the Government submitted a draft proposal for amendments to the legislation on social welfare and health care client fees, and the amendments have not garnered much public attention so far. One of the proposed...

Read the full text

The wellbeing services counties’ service needs forecasting tool

With the wellbeing services county service needs forecasting tool, counties can forecast developments in service needs and their impact on costs.

Forecasts of service use and costs are presented in the tool as charts and tables. The data are presented both by wellbeing services county and at the national level.

The forecasting tool supports the county’s long-term strategic planning and the need to allocate resources on a needs-based basis. Using the tool, county management gains insight into how changes in the age structure affect service needs.

Key benefits of the tool include:

Improved preparedness and ability to anticipate regional changes in service needs.
Wellbeing services counties gain national benchmark data on other regions.
Better visibility into cause-and-effect relationships in service development.
Improved needs-based allocation of resources.
Greater predictability of future funding needs.

Download the wellbeing services counties’ service needs forecasting tool (xls 40 MB)