25.6.2026 | In the development of social and health care, there is now a need to place greater emphasis on services and on improving their effectiveness, according to THL. This includes, among other things, defining the scope of services that publicly funded social and health care system should provide in general. So far, cost savings and public finance perspectives have been emphasised in the development and steering of the system.

Quality report (OSF): Health Care and Social Welfare Personnel Data description Statistical presentation The Health and Social Services Personnel statistics describe persons permanently resident in Finland on the last day of the year who primarily...

Human health and environmental health go hand in hand People’s health, climate change mitigation and broader environmental wellbeing are not separate objectives – many solutions support all of them. “When different choices are made easy and afford...

Quality report: Social protection expenditure and financing Data description Statistical presentation The statistics provide comprehensive information on the distribution of social protection expenditure and financing in Finland. The time series o...

Updated: Thu May 21 13:19:16 EEST 2026 Quality report: Promotion of Health and Wellbeing in Municipal Management – TEA 2025 Data description Statistical presentation The data on the promotion of health and wellbeing in municipal management, collec...

20.5.2026 | Serious health problems, especially severe mental health and substance use problems, are associated with receiving supplementary social assistance among people aged 25–64, according to a recent THL study.

Our everyday choices affect both human health and the environment People’s health, climate change mitigation and other aspects of environmental well-being are not separate goals – many measures serve all of them at the same time. “Environmental we...

The Competence center promotes the creation, dissemination, and implementation of sustainable social innovations and strengthens the innovation capacity of the actors involved.

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 Published 15.5.2025 The views expressed in the blog posts are the writers' own and...

Promoting health and well-being – Physical Activity On this page Promotion of physical activity in municipalities has remained stable Overall, the promotion of physical activity by municipalities remained almost unchanged at the national level in ...

Quality report: Promotion of Health and Wellbeing in Comprehensive Schools – TEA 1. Data description 1.1 Statistical presentation The dataset “Promotion of Health and Wellbeing in Comprehensive Schools”, collected by the Finnish Institute for Heal...

Quality report: Promotion of Health and Wellbeing in General Upper Secondary Schools - TEA Data description Statistical presentation The data on the promotion of health and wellbeing in general upper secondary schools, collected by the Finnish Ins...

3.6.2026 | The latest statistics on access to treatment from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) show two diverging trends. In primary health care, patients experienced longer waiting times for access to treatment in 2025. In specialised health care, however, the number of patients waiting a long time for treatment decreased significantly.

Quality Report (OSF): Processing times for social assistance applications General description Description of the statistics The statistics on processing times for social assistance applications contain information on the number of social assistanc...

Registry and Archive – List of tasks This page lists THL’s most common tasks. The list helps you gain a clearer understanding of the types of information processed by THL. Using the task categories, you can further specify your information request...

What we do We defend well-being, health, and safety The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is an independent state-owned expert and research institute that defends the well-being, health and safety of the population. THL’s duties are e...

24.6.2026 | “In Finland’s comprehensive security, the key question is how we manage together – not just how I manage alone,” said Director General Otto Helve at SuomiAreena. Mental resilience is a central part of comprehensive security. It refers to the ability of individuals, communities and society to withstand the strain of crises and recover from their impacts.

Organisation THL's management team is in charge of the overall management of the institution. In addition to the Director General, the management team includes the RDI Director, the Communications Director and all the directors of departments. THL...

Registry and Archive – Archival materials THL holds the archival materials of its predecessor authorities. National Public Health Institute (1911–31 December 2008) The history of the National Public Health Institute (Kansanterveyslaitos, KTL) bega...

16.6.2026 | Service needs assessments in child welfare continue to be completed mainly within the statutory timeframe, and fewer and fewer social workers have too many clients. According to THL, monitoring of statutory time limits must not be discontinued, because it helps ensure that children and families receive the support they need in a timely and equitable manner throughout the country.