Most Finns doing well – about half a million are not
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Tens of thousands of people in Finland feel that they are not doing very well. Problems include failing health, a lack of energy, problems with human relationships, and an inability to make ends meet economically.
These are accompanied by feelings of being shunned by the outside world. Fourteen per cent say that they sometimes feel that way, while six per cent say that it happens fairly often. Four per cent say that the feeling is constant.
An estimated half a million Finns feel that they are not doing well, according to a fresh study by the Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health. The survey got responses from 3,600 adults in the summer.
The majority of Finns said that they are doing quite well. Those with higher incomes and a lengthy education were most likely to feel positive.
Up to half a million people are believed to have serious problems, and 70,000 are seen to be at the very bottom.
“We are talking about people whose problems can be fixed with money”, says the federation’s executive director Riitta Särkelä.
Finns apparently are willing to invest into improving the situation. Most of those responding to the study felt that poverty is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
Sixty per cent said that they would be ready to raise taxes if that is what it takes to fix the problem.
Single people who are unemployed rated their situations as the worst. Unemployment was seen as the main reason. Half of those without work characterised their economic situation as poor. Only eight per cent of those with work complained of a poor economic status.
Many also felt lonely, and that they felt happy only on rare occasions. “Work is important for people’s well-being”, concludes Aki Siltaniemi, head of research at the Federation for Social Welfare and Health.
The lot of the unemployed seems to have deteriorated since the previous survey conducted two years ago.
Unemployment is a key factor in increasing the feeling of malaise in the country. It brings down a person’s income level, making it hard to pay for essentials such as food, clothing, medicines, housing, and medical care.
More than a million Finns say that their income is insufficient for medical care. Riitta Särkelä thinks that the fee charged for visits to a public health clinic should be abolished: although the fees are not high, Särkelä points out that even a small amount of money is too much for those who do not have it.
As disparities grow in health, they also grow in life expectancy.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 20.12.2011 - TODAY |
 Most Finns doing well – about half a million are not |
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