Domestic
A smaller share of Finland’s growing foreign-language population receives basic social assistance and unemployment benefits than a decade ago, according to figures released by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela, on Wednesday.
Kela data shows that the number of people whose registered mother tongue is not Finnish, Swedish or Sámi rose by more than 70 per cent between 2017 and 2025, from 373,000 to 646,000.
Despite that rise, the proportion receiving several forms of income support fell over the same period.
In 2017, 23 per cent of foreign-language adults received basic social assistance. By 2025, the figure had fallen to 18 per cent. The share receiving labour market subsidy dropped from 24 per cent to 16 per cent.
