Poverty Watch Finland | Poverty Watches 2021 & 2022

The latest statistics indicate positive developments in poverty in recent years: low income has fallen, as has the number of homeless people. The number of social assistance recipients has also begun to decline. 

With the abatement of the Covid pandemic, employment figures for 2021 and 2022 have improved and the number of long-term unemployed has also come down. Poverty among pensioners has continued to fall. The effects of the pandemic on poverty were mitigated successfully by temporary extensions and increases in social security, yet the pandemic can have also far-reaching impacts on poverty. 

Finland has one of the lowest low-income rates in the EU. Concurrently with these good developments, however, there are signs of deepening poverty or increase in severe deprivation: for example, more people are now reliant on basic social security and more people are also seeking food aid. Household debt has increased as well. The rising cost of living makes it particularly difficult for people on low incomes to make ends meet. 

Although child poverty has decreased slightly, it remains high. Poverty of families with children is particularly worrying because its impacts on the lives of individuals and society as a whole are far-reaching and long-lasting. Single-parent families are in many ways worse off than other families: for example, they experience more poverty than others in spite of being employed, and they are over-represented among social assistance recipients. 

The majority of single parents are women. One low-income group that clearly stands out and is growing is single-headed households. People with a migrant background also experience higher levels of poverty than other groups.