Family law related social services 2025

Family law related social services ensure the status of children – child support agreements are the most confirmed agreements.

In 2025, around 44,000 child support agreements were confirmed, i.e., child support agreements were confirmed for 3.9 per cent of those aged under 18 years. Additionally, around 20,000 agreements on children’s custody, residence or right of access were confirmed. Several agreements can be concluded for the same child during the year.

The number of family law related agreements has stabilised after the changes at the turn of the 2020s. Currently, paternity is usually acknowledged during pregnancy, and no separate child custody agreements are concluded in connection with establishing paternity for children whose parents are cohabiting partners.

Paternity is still always established separately if the parents of the child that will be born are not married. In 2025, paternity was established based on acknowledgement for 22,000 children. Paternity was acknowledged after the child was born only in 10 per cent of cases.

There are also differences in family law related social services between wellbeing services counties. For example, child support agreements were confirmed most in Kymenlaakso, where they were confirmed for 7 per cent of children, and least in Åland, where the percentage was 1.9.

Only agreements confirmed by social welfare are included in the statistics – parents can also agree on the custody and residence of their children and access to the children between themselves.

The data in the statistics are collected from the wellbeing services counties, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), the Legal Register Centre and THL’s Forensic Chemistry Unit.

Note

Detailed information by wellbeing services county are available in the summary view (in Finnish).

Download the full statistical report

Amounts of family law related agreements 2000−2025.

Tables

Indicators in Sotkanet

Background information

Description of statistics

Statistics include numerical data on agreements regarding child custody, maintenance of the child, residence and right of access as well as determination and confirming of parenthood.

Welfare areas submit information on their own activities. The data is supplemented with data from the Digital and Population Data Agency, the Forensic Chemistry Unit of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and the Legal Register Centre.

The statistics are published annually in April. The statistics have been published since 1993.