Healthcare in Finland

The effectiveness of the health care system in Finland is well above average in a global comparison.

Probably the most important indicator that can be used to summarize the efficiency of all measures is general life expectancy. In other words, the theoretical age that a newborn child could potentially reach today. At the moment, this age in Finland is 79.3 years for men and 84.7 years for women. For comparison: worldwide life expectancy is about 10.6 years lower (men: 68.9 / women: 73.9 years).

A total of 4,726.14 USD per inhabitant is spent annually on health measures at state expense. This corresponds to approximately 9.6 percent of the gross domestic product. Internationally, this amount averages 1,177.15 USD (~ 10.9% of the respective GDP).

Back to overview: Finland

Spread of COVID-19 in Finland

Current incidence in the week ending 06/07/2023: 2.3 new infections per 100,000 population

Since the beginning of the pandemic until June 7th, 2023, a total of 1,479,608 infected people and 9,676 deaths have been reported in Finland.

The total of 1,479,608 infected people currently represents 26.78 percent of the total population. The number of new infections during the seven days preceding June 7th, 2023, was 128, for a 7-day incidence of 2.3 cases per 100,000 population. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, this results in a mortality rate of about 0.7 percent in Finland.

Current vaccination status

According to official WHO data, a total of 13.26 million vaccine doses have been administered as of May 14th, 2023. More recent data are not yet available to WHO. There are 4.55 million people who have received at least one vaccination (82.3 percent). The booster vaccination was received by 3.09 million people (55.9 percent).

4.36 million of these are considered fully vaccinated in Finland (= 79.0 percent).
This means that Finland is still one of the better countries in terms of vaccination coverage. The vaccination rate is higher in 50 countries.

Weight and size

	Male	Female
Body height	180 cm	166 cm
BMI	26.6	25.7
Weight	86.3 kg	71.0 kg

Diseases

	Finland	Ø worldwide
Diabetes *	5.60%	8.81%
Tuberculosis	0.04‰	1.34‰
HIV / Aids	0.01%	0.03%

* The number of people suffering from diabetes refers only to inhabitants aged between 20 and 79 years.

Child vaccinations

	Finland	Ø worldwide
Measles	93.0%	81.7%
DTP *	8.90%	8.14%

* DTP is a combined basic vaccination against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus, which should be given to children up to the age of 23 months.

In Finland, 21.6 percent of all over 15-year-olds are still smokers.

Medical supplies

The medical care provided by doctors and hospitals in Finland is above average, but is not as good as the average within the EU. The country provides 3.6 hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants. The global mean here is 2.9 beds. Within the EU, 4.6 beds are available for every 1,000 residents.

With about 21,100 physicians in Finland, there are about 3.81 doctors per 1000 inhabitants. Here again the comparison: worldwide this standard is 1.50 physicians per 1,000 inhabitants and in the EU is 3.57.

Through medical care, the mortality of major known diseases can be reduced to an above-average extent. For example, only about 10 percent of all people who suffer from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or chylomicron retention disease (CRD) currently die.

Drinking water supply

As one of the few countries, Finland offers almost its entire population (99.64 percent) access to an immediately available, running drinking water connection. The percentage of population reached by additional supply from springs and wells or delivered drinking water is 100 percent. In a global comparison, only about 74 percent of the population has direct access to tested and always available drinking water. Within the European Union, this share is 98 percent. Only in a few countries does the proportion fall below 10 percent.

Sources

The above data correspond to the information from the World Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Statistics, UNICEF, State of the World's Children, Childinfo, Global Health Observatory Data Repository and OECD. The case numbers for the spread of the COVID-19 come from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Average age by countryRising average age worldwide: since 1950 alone, more than 4 years. A list by country.

Average life expectancy by countryInternational ranking of life expectancy in 119 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.

Quality of life 2023 in country comparisonCompare the quality of life around the globe: In which countries is life pleasant, safe and healthy?