How to interpret the research data

The purpose of the National Health Index is to identify the disease burden of the most common health problems in each region, providing data on their impact and the changes that can be observed over time.

The National Health Index describes the health and work capacity of the population of wellbeing services counties and municipalities in relation to Finland’s entire population (entire population = 100). The higher the morbidity or incapacity for work in a region, the higher the index score.

The National Health Index will be published in both age-standardised and non-standardised versions. The age-standardised version reduces the impact of age structure on the results, thus making them suitable for cross-regional comparison, while the non-age-standardised index describes the actual disease burden in the region.

In addition to the age structure of the population, there are many other factors underlying regional differences in morbidity and incapacity for work. Lifestyle habits, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, sleep, and eating habits have an impact on the statistics, but those habits are in turn the result of many different factors. Unemployment, financial situation and education are all reflected in the health and work capacity of the population. Access to functioning social welfare and healthcare services is also important, as are cultural and genetic factors.