Statistics Finland: Statistics on the activities of social services of municipalities/joint municipal boards
Statistics Finland gathers information on municipal finances and activities on a yearly basis. The statistics contain information on municipally-funded services, that is, services that the municipality provides itself to its inhabitants or purchases from other municipalities, municipal federations, the state or private providers. In this context, Statistics on Social Welfare and Health Care Activities have been compiled since 1994 by order of STAKES and, as of the beginning of 2009, by order of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (the result of a merger between STAKES and KTL). A predecessor to these statistics was a report system for social welfare and health care, maintained by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health until 1993.
Keywords
non-institutional services
care and services for older people
Classifications
Geographical classification
Municipality, sub-region, region, area for the regional state administrative agency, major region, Mainland Finland/Åland, hospital district, university hospital special responsibility area, whole country
Age classification
65 years and older
Data content
The indicator gives the percentage of people aged 65 and over who receive home help, support services or support for informal care (municipally funded services) in the total population of the same age during the year. The population data refer to year-end data.
Interpretation
The indicator describes the scope of the most important community-based services in social care. It also gives an idea of the percentage of people aged 65 and over who receive home-based services. However, the indicator is inaccurate in that it includes simultaneous use of services; the client may receive all service types at the same time. Moreover, the figure is concerned with clients receiving services during the year, so it may vary from one municipality to another, depending on whether the municipality offers plenty of home help to a small number of clients or just a little home help to a great number of clients. In addition, the service system for older people should always be looked at as a whole; different municipalities arrange the services in different ways. In other words, comparisons of individual services between municipalities will not tell the whole truth as the municipality may have invested in sheltered housing, for instance, depending on the needs and wishes of the clients.
