Sickness absence statistics in Finland 2026

In 2025 Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, paid sickness allowance to 306,634 people and compensated about 14 million sickness allowance days. The most common reason was mental and behavioural disorders: 101,522 people received the allowance on these grounds, and 35% of the compensated days were for mental health reasons. According to Kela, 2,086,000 employees were covered by employer-arranged occupational health care in 2024, and around 19,100 people resident in Finland retired on a disability pension in 2025.

This page collects the latest official figures on sickness absence, occupational health care, disability pensions and burnout in Finland. Every figure was read at its source on 13 November 2026 and is shown with its year, population and source. It is written for founders and managers of growth companies with 5–25 people, and for journalists, students and anyone else who needs a figure to cite.

Key figures at a glance

How much sickness absence is there in Finland?

In 2025 Kela paid sickness allowance to 306,634 people, and the number of compensated sickness allowance days was 14,286 thousand.

The figure describes long periods of illness compensated by Kela, not all sickness absence. Sickness allowance is paid after a waiting period, which according to Kela usually consists of the first day of illness and the following nine working days. For this reason Kela says its sickness allowance statistics do not describe short-term illness and cannot be used to describe absence from work. Unemployed people and students can also receive the allowance, and for the sickness absences of employed people Kela refers to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey. Pay during short absences is covered in the guide to sick pay in Finland.

According to Kela, the number of recipients stayed almost unchanged from 2024, but spending on sickness allowance fell by 8% because the benefit level was cut at the start of 2025 and fewer days were compensated. Sickness allowance periods that began in 2024 lasted 46 working days on average.

For a small employer: short absences never reach Kela's statistics, so your own absence records are the only way to see your team's situation. The whole process from reporting sick to long absences is in the guide to sick leave in Finland.

Source: Kela health insurance statistics 2025 (in Finnish), tables 1, 3 and 10; waiting period: Kela: sickness allowance.

What is the most common reason for sickness absence?

Mental and behavioural disorders were the most common reason for sickness allowance in 2025: 101,522 people received the allowance on these grounds, and 77,626 people for musculoskeletal diseases.

Of the recipients with mental health grounds, 52,700 received the allowance for anxiety disorders and 40,500 for mood disorders. Of the sickness allowance periods that began in 2025, 30% began on the grounds of mental and behavioural disorders and 23% on the grounds of musculoskeletal diseases. In the under-35 age group 46% of the periods were based on mental health, while in the 55–67 age group the most common reason was musculoskeletal diseases (35%).

For a small employer: if your team is young, note that in Kela's statistics 46% of the sickness allowance periods of people under 35 began for mental health reasons. How to raise workload and wellbeing as an employer is covered in the guide to workplace wellbeing in Finland.

Source: Kela health insurance statistics 2025 (in Finnish), table 4 and figure 6.

How many people are covered by occupational health care?

In 2024, according to Kela's reimbursement data, 2,086,000 employees were covered by employer-arranged occupational health care, which is 91% of wage earners.

According to Kela, coverage is affected by the fact that some small employers have not arranged occupational health care for their employees at all, and some small employers do not apply for Kela reimbursement. Workplace size also shows in the costs:

For a small employer: according to Kela's statistics, an employer can get reimbursement from Kela for the costs of statutory preventive occupational health care and voluntary medical care. The statutory minimum is explained in statutory occupational health care in Finland and the reimbursement in Kela reimbursement for occupational health care. The figures in the table are national averages, not prices: StartHealth's packages are on the services page and prices on the pricing page.

Source: Kela occupational health care statistics 2024 (in Finnish), overview and table 5.

What is the most common reason for a disability pension?

In 2025 around 19,100 people resident in Finland retired on a disability pension, most often due to mental disorders (35%) or musculoskeletal diseases (31%).

The statistics cover both earnings-related and national pensions, and the Finnish Centre for Pensions produces them together with Kela. The number of disability pension recipients in 2025 was around 45,000 lower than in 2015. Of the new disability pension recipients, 38% were aged 60 or over and 17% were under 35.

For a small employer: a disability pension is the far end of a long incapacity for work, and the workplace's tools come before it: the early support model and the work ability meeting, where the employee, the manager and occupational health care agree on arrangements at work.

Source: Finnish Centre for Pensions and Kela: statistics on pensioners in Finland.

How common is burnout in Finland?

In summer 2026 one in four (26%) working Finns had an elevated risk of burnout or probable burnout in a survey by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

The figures come from the institute's Miten Suomi voi? (How is Finland doing?) study: in June 2026, 3,778 working Finns aged 18–65 responded, and the results are weighted by age, gender and region. The survey describes experienced symptoms, not diagnoses. According to the researchers, burnout symptoms increased between 2019 and 2023 and have since stayed at the same level, and in summer 2026 there were no differences between age groups.

For a small employer: the institute says measures to reduce burnout symptoms should target bureaucratic demands and role conflicts, meaning rigid ways of working and conflicting expectations. Burnout symptoms were more common among both employees and supervisors than before the COVID-19 pandemic; a founder's own load is covered in founder burnout in Finland. If exhaustion touches your team, the first place to turn is occupational health care or the person's own doctor. In an emergency call 112; the MIELI Crisis Helpline answers in Finnish every day around the clock on 09 2525 0111, and MIELI offers English speakers living in Finland one-to-one crisis counselling online by video or phone.

Source: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health press release, 5 October 2026 and the Miten Suomi voi? results summary (in Finnish).

What do the figures mean for a small employer?

National figures say nothing about an individual company, but they show what to prepare for. This list is a recommendation, not a legal requirement, unless a section of law is named.

1. Record absences yourself. Kela's statistics only see absences longer than the waiting period, so short and repeated absences show up only in your own records.
2. Agree on an early support threshold. Decide in advance how many absences or days lead to a conversation, and write it into your early support model.
3. Notify occupational health care after a month of absence. Under section 10 a of the Occupational Health Care Act, the employer must notify occupational health care of an employee's sickness absence at the latest when the absence has lasted a month.
4. Raise workload early. Mental health is the most common ground for both sickness allowance and disability pensions, so workload and wellbeing belong in regular conversations. Work ability management gives this a structure.
5. Check whether your contract includes medical care. Medical care is voluntary for the employer, so the contract decides whether an employee can see occupational health care when ill.
6. Review the figures every year. Go through your own absence figures with occupational health care when the action plan is reviewed, and compare them with national figures only as a rough guide.

More background on sickness absence is on the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health's page on sickness absence (in Finnish).

How to cite this page

Citation: StartHealth. Sickness absence statistics in Finland 2026. https://starthealth.fi/en/guides/sickness-absence-statistics-finland (updated 13 November 2026, accessed DD Month YYYY).

Please also cite the original source named at the end of each section. The figures are given as the source presents them, and no new statistics have been calculated from them.

Updated 13 November 2026. We update the figures when Kela, the Finnish Centre for Pensions and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health publish new data. Kela's occupational health care statistics are published yearly, and the Finnish Centre for Pensions publishes data on new retirees in June.

Frequently asked questions