Ministry of Social Affairs and Health report: Wellbeing services counties handle core tasks well, but with a risk of unequal access to services due to regional segregation
According to a report by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the gap between wellbeing services counties’ operations and finances widened in 2025. This trend is also expected to continue in the coming years. The underlying reasons include population ageing, an increase in service needs and uneven regional migration.
Despite these facts, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health finds that last year, the wellbeing services counties organised their statutory social welfare and health care services better than in 2024.
However significant these positive trends may be, some wellbeing services counties have still been unable to fully organise certain statutory social welfare and health care services.
Access to non-urgent treatment has become faster. All wellbeing service counties have developed and put various continuity-of-care models in place. The level of access to urgent and emergency care is good throughout Finland.
However, there are many counties in which access to specialist health care as required by law is insufficient. Examples of this include mental health and substance abuse services for children and young people.
The sufficiency and availability of personnel have improved nationwide in personnel groups that had previously been lacking.
Digitalisation and unification of information systems, along with other development efforts, have seen progress in the counties.
Nationally and as a whole, the budgets of the wellbeing services counties have begun to show a surplus. In 2025, their expenses grew at a slower pace than their budgets, even when the retroactive funding adjustment, which added 1.4 billion euros to their funding, is disregarded. Despite all this, the budgets for nine counties turned a deficit.
Annual report pursuant to the Act on the Organisation of Social and Health Services
The report of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health assesses equal access to social welfare and health care services at the wellbeing services counties and the sufficiency of their funding.
The report, which is published annually, is based on the Act on the Organisation of Social and Health Services and compiles key observations by the Ministry’s specialists on the outcomes of social welfare and health care services organised by the wellbeing services counties.
Their observations are based on expert assessments by the Finnish Institute for Welfare and Health (THL), as well as reports published by the wellbeing service counties and the Finnish Supervisory Authority (former Valvira).
The Ministry’s report has made use of separate surveys, as well as national social welfare and health care data for 2024–2025 acquired from the wellbeing services counties.
Further information
Andreas Blanco Sequeiros, Director, tel. +358 295 163 347, andreas.blancosequeiros(at)gov.fi