The adult population’s well-being and health – Healthy Finland survey

Data description

Statistical presentation

The statistics describe the well-being, health and experiences of health and social services of adults residing in Finland and changes that have taken place in these.

The statistic is based on the Healthy Finland survey, which produces population group-specific and regional monitoring data on such key phenomena on which information cannot be obtained from registers. For example, these include lifestyle, perceived health and well-being, and service experiences. The nationally representative sample of the survey consists of the population who permanently resides in Finland and is aged 20 or over. The survey has no upper age limit.

The data of the statistics is used in the assessment and management of social and health policy and in the promotion and planning of the well-being, health and safety of the population. The data is also used in the preparation of welfare reports, the monitoring of the population’s service needs and the research of health and well-being inequalities.

The 2024 data was collected between September 2024 and March 2025. The data is comparable with the results of the previous Healthy Finland survey 2022 and the FinSote survey 2018–2020.

The statistics have been published since 2022 [1] and statistical data is produced every 2–3 years. The published data is final.

The data is published as a THL statistical report, in the Sotkanet.fi service and as indicator tables in the THL online service (thl.fi/tervesuomi). In 2024, 82 indicators will be published in the Sotkanet.fi service. The data is available by region (whole country, wellbeing services counties) and population group (gender, age group, education group).

The statistics replace The adult population’s well-being, health and services – FinSote statistics [2] implemented by THL, which produced information on the well-being, health and service experiences of adults in 2018 and 2020 by wellbeing services county and population group. These statistics also replace the Health, functional capacity and welfare in Finland - FinHealth 2017 statistics [3]. The statistics continue the tradition of surveys of the adult population that began with the Regional Health and Wellbeing Study (ATH) in 2010 [4].

Relevance

The national health and social welfare registers provide information on the well-being and health of people in the scope of these services and on their service use. However, the registers do not provide information on many of the key areas of health and well-being. The Healthy Finland survey produces population group-specific and regional monitoring data on such key phenomena on which information cannot be obtained from registers. For example, these include lifestyle, perceived health and well-being, and service experiences.

The information is used especially by decision-makers, officials and health care and social welfare professionals working in the management and evaluation of social welfare and health care services. The data is also used in the planning and targeting of the promotion of well-being, health and safety, in the preparation of regional welfare reports, in the monitoring of service needs, and in the research of well-being and health inequality between population groups.

Data content of the statistics

The statistics describe the well-being, health and experiences of health and social services of adults residing in Finland and changes that have taken place in these.

The statistic is based on the Healthy Finland survey, which produces population group-specific and regional monitoring data on such key phenomena on which information cannot be obtained from registers. The nationally representative sample of the survey consists of the population who permanently resides in Finland and is aged 20 or over. The survey has no upper age limit.

The 2024 statistics are based on the questionnaire data. The data content mainly corresponds to the previous statistics for 2022, which were based on the questionnaire section of the Healthy Finland survey conducted in the period 2022–2023. More detailed information on data collection carried out in the Healthy Finland survey and the questionnaires used in different years are available at the THL website (thl.fi/tervesuomi).

The results of the previous Healthy Finland survey 2022–2023 have been published as THL’s statistical report [1] and THL’s online reports [5]. Information on the FinSote, ATH and FinHealth surveys of previous years is also available in the Terveytemme.fi and Aineistokatalogi.fi online services.

Statistical processing

Source data

The statistics are based on data from the Healthy Finland survey, which is carried out every 2–3 years. The nationally representative sample of the survey consists of the population who permanently resides in Finland and is aged 20 or over. The survey has no upper age limit.

The survey sample (n=61,600) was extracted using a stratified random sample. The sample size for all the wellbeing services counties (22) was 2,800 persons/county (2,000 persons aged 20–74 years/county and 800 persons aged 75 or over/county). The sampling method responds to the need in the evaluation of social welfare and health care to obtain age group-specific results from each wellbeing services county.

In 2024, the survey data were collected between September 2024 and March 2025 using questionnaire forms that could be answered by post or online.

In the final data set, the number of respondents was 26,682 and the response rate was 44.1%. When reviewed by age group, the response rate was 32.0 % for people aged 20–64, 60.7 % for people aged 65 and over, and 61.2 % for people aged 75 and older. The response rate varied between 39 per cent and 48 per cent by wellbeing services county (Appendix Table).

Appendix Table. Response rate (%) by wellbeing services county and age group in the Healthy Finland 2024 survey.

Data collection

The survey includes questionnaires tailored for three different age groups (20–54 years, 55–74 years, 75+ years) in four languages: Finnish, Swedish, Russian, and English. The subjects can respond to the survey either by post or online. The subjects monitored during data collection are approached at certain intervals by post until the subject replies to the questionnaire or refuses to participate in the survey, but no more than four times. Taking the survey is voluntary.

Data validation

The printing, mailing and storage of the questionnaire forms have been outsourced to the supplier. The completed paper forms are stored optically and some from the material to ensure quality. The optical data storage process includes logical checks to the responses as well as standardisation based on previously given instructions, for instance, regarding incorrectly answering questions.

Once the research data arrive at the THL, they will be checked for possible errors, deficiencies and illogicalness. The responses to a form completed online are collected through the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare's form service. Using structured descriptions, the data are combined into a single research database. In addition, data on factors such as the respondent's age, gender, marital status, native language, number of people in the household and place of residence are combined with the survey data from the sample frame. The compiled statistics are compared with the corresponding data from the previous data collection. Any unclear information is checked and corrected as far as possible.

Data compilation

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare undertakes as a public authority to store and process the data complying with its secrecy obligation and data protection legislation. All persons involved in collecting and processing the data have a duty of non-disclosure.

Each year, the group of respondents has been adjusted with weighting to correspond to the population in general (Finland’s population aged twenty or over). In addition, 95 % confidence intervals have been calculated for the results to illustrate the impact of random variations on the results.

Data revision

The data published in the statistics are based on a survey whose data collection has been conducted in full. The data will not be supplemented later.

Quality assessment of the statistics

Accuracy and reliability

The representativeness of the collection of data via a survey sent by post and available online can be assessed using nonresponse analyses, which involve using register data to examine how the research respondents and those who have opted out of responding differ from each other, and how the possible nonresponses affect the results. In the Healthy Finland survey, response loss is corrected by using weighting factors produced using the Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) method. The IPW method has been used in numerous surveys concerning the population, and it has also been found suitable for correcting the nonresponse of the Finnish population [6].

The weighting factors are calculated using the following information available for the whole sample: Age, gender, marital status, level of education, language, and area of residence. These variables have been used to model the responsiveness of each respondent, and the weighting factor to be studied is a combination of the inverse of that probability and the probability of the sample. The group studied using weighting factors represents the population from the perspective of the variables used in the calculation.

The coverage is lowest among young men, while the participation of older people is high. It is also known that survey respondents often unknowingly or consciously report lower levels of unfavourable health behaviour. In particular, a lack of underrepresentation in questions concerning alcohol and other intoxicant use is due, on the one hand, to the fact that people who consume large amounts of alcohol and are substance abusers are less likely on average to take part in studies and, on the other hand, to the fact that the participants underestimate their alcohol use. However, underestimations are not a problem when it can be assumed that this does not differ between the population in different regions.

Timeliness and punctuality

The questionnaire part of the Healthy Finland survey is carried out every 2–3 years. The extensive sample size (in 2024 and 2022, the sample size was 61,600; in the FinSote survey of 2020, it was 61,600 and in 2018, 59,400) enables data production by wellbeing services county or equivalent area. The questionnaire contains a wide range of questions about the user experiences in social and health services and the well-being and health of the population.

The data from the survey is published around 2–4 months after the end of the data collection phase.

Coherence and comparability

The Healthy Finland survey was implemented for the first time in 2022–2023. In 2018 and 2020, the data collection corresponding to the questionnaire part of the survey was conducted as the FinSote survey. The basic results of the questionnaire data of the years 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 are reported as comparable indicators. The indicators are available free of charge in THL’s statistics and indicator bank Sotkanet. Furthermore, the results of the indicators and the 95 % confidence intervals are available as tables on the website of the Healthy Finland survey.

Sotkanet contains data from the FinSote and Healthy Finland surveys on 120 indicators, the results of which are published for the whole country and by region according to age, gender and education. However, no regional information is published in Sotkanet on indicators with a small number of respondents and a high rate of uncertainty due to randomness. For example, these include indicators describing user experiences in social services. Sotkanet provides information directly to welfare reports through an open interface. The statistic also has its own website (thl.fi/tilastot/tervesuomi).

The questionnaire forms used in the Healthy Finland survey contain permanent and changing sections. Key issues related to the well-being, health and lifestyle of the population as well as issues related to the use of social and health services are permanent sections. In addition to permanent sections, additional questions can be added to the form to collect information on current phenomena (so-called modules), which vary from year to year.

The questions in the questionnaire part of the Healthy Finland survey are largely comparable with similar international and national surveys. In the preparation of the data collection, THL’s earlier surveys and health examination studies and the data content of the European Health Interview Survey and other health-related data collections at the level of the EU have been taken into account. However, it has been proven that the data collection method has an impact on the results, which should be considered when comparing the results of surveys and health examination studies or interview studies.

The results of the Healthy Finland 2024 survey are largely comparable with the 2022 survey, as well as the results of the previous FinSote 2018 and 2020 surveys, as the data collection method and several research questions have remained almost the same in both surveys.

The results of the FinSote survey and the Regional Health and Wellbeing Study (ATH) indicators are available at THL’s Sotkanet and Terveytemme.fi web services. Indicators of the FinHealth survey are available in the Terveytemme.fi web service.

The development of many phenomena describing the health and lifestyle of the population can also be compared with the results obtained from the Regional Health and Wellbeing Study (2010-2017), the Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population Study (AVTK 1978-2014) and the Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Retirement-Age Population Study (EVTK 1985-2014). These phenomena include self-rated health, obesity and daily smoking, the time series of which have been produced on the Sotkanet website since 1990 (daily smoking since 1996).

Institutional mandate

The production of the statistics is based on the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (688/2008) and the Statistics Act (280/2004). One of the official tasks of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is to produce statistical data on the health and welfare of the population, the factors affecting them, and the use and functioning of healthcare and social welfare services to support decision-making, development and research. THL’s statistical production practices are guided by the instructions, recommendations and regulations of Eurostat and the Official Statistics of Finland as well as the principles of statistical ethics.

The Healthy Finland survey has been evaluated in THL’s working group on research ethics in 2022 and 2024. The working group has given a favourable opinion of the 2022 and 2024 surveys (THL/72/6.02.01/2022).

Data sharing and publishing

THL publishes the data at the time indicated in advance in the statistics publication calendar. The data is made public to all users at the same time.
Statistics publication calendar

The statistical reports are public. However, the information contained in the research dataset is confidential. The research data may be used in accordance with the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (668/2008) and the Act on the Secondary Use of Social and Health Data (552/2019). For a study that meets the THL criteria for an internal study, the decision is made by THL itself. THL has transferred the competence for data access authorisation to the Finnish Social and Health Data Permit Authority (Findata), which is primarily responsible for the data access authorisation of applicants outside THL.
Information on the use of the data for research (thl.fi/tervesuomi)

Confidentiality

As an authority, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has the obligation to produce compiled data on the health and well-being concerned with the entire country. The data used to draw up THL’s statistics is primarily confidential, and personal data may not be published. The protection of processed data is based on the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (688/2008), the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018) as well as other regulations guiding the activities of the Institute.

THL’s datasets are secured at all stages of processing. Data and information systems can only be accessed by persons who have a permit to access certain data for clearly defined purposes. Others do not have the ability to view, process, change or delete data. Written instructions have been drawn up to ensure the data protection of completed statistics. All THL personnel are bound by a confidentiality obligation.

Special issues concerning the 2024 statistics

In 2024, the permanent contents of the questionnaire were mainly the same as in 2022. The length of the questionnaires was reduced to reduce costs and the response burden. The form did not contain any additional questions (so-called modules). Questions concerning cultural services and experiences of discrimination were also removed from the questionnaire. From the form for those aged 75 or over, questions on experiences of violence and some additional questions for older people included in the previous 2022 survey were removed.

The survey response rate was almost the same in 2024 as in 2022. The response rate among those aged 75 and over increased, while it slightly declined among those aged 20 to 74 compared to 2022.

In 2024, the survey was also conducted in Åland (additional sample n=2,800; 2,000 persons aged 20–74 years and 800 persons aged 75 or over). The data for Åland is not included in the results published in this statistical report.

References

1) The adult population’s health and well-being – Healthy Finland 2022. Statistical report 45/2023, 30 June 2023. THL.

2) The adult population’s well-being, health and services - FinSote 2020. Statistical report 16/2021, 1 June 2021. THL.

3) Koponen P, Borodulin K, Lundqvist A, Sääksjärvi K and Koskinen S (Eds.). Health, functional capacity and well-being in Finland – FinHealth 2017 study. Report 4/2018. THL.

4) Kaikkonen R, Murto J, Pentala-Nikulainen O, Koskela T, Virtala E, Härkänen T, Koskenniemi T, Ahonen J, Vartiainen E & Koskinen S. Alueellisen terveys- ja hyvinvointitutkimuksen perustulokset 2010–2017. Available at: terveytemme.fi/ath. Referenced on 17 April 2025.

5) Healthy Finland working group (2023). Basic results of the Healthy Finland survey 2022–2023. [Website]. Available at: thl.fi/tervesuomi/tulokset. Referenced on 17 April 2025.

6) Härkänen T, Kaikkonen R, Virtala E and Koskinen S. Inverse probability weighting and doubly robust methods in correcting the effects of non-response in the reimbursed medication and self-reported turnout estimates in the ATH survey. BMC Public Health. 2014;14:1150.

Updated: Mon Jun 09 08:43:31 EEST 2025