Information package: Sickness absence
Kela pays sickness allowance for long sickness absences that last for at least 10 days to compensate for loss of income during a period of incapacity for work. The following is a brief overview of the occurrence and costs of sickness absences compensated under the sickness allowance scheme and of recent trends. At the end, you will find links to more material on this topic from Kela, including statistics and studies on sickness absences.
Approximately 307,000 Finns were paid sickness allowance during their long sickness absences in 2025. Kela’s total expenditure on sickness allowance and partial sickness allowance amounted to EUR 927 million in the said year. Kela paid sickness allowance for 14.3 million days and partial sickness allowance for 2.3 million days of sickness absence.
Kela pays sickness allowance most commonly on the grounds of mental health disorders. Women and older age groups stand out in terms of prevalence among recipients of sickness allowance.
Kela can pay sickness allowance for a sickness absence that has lasted for at least 10 working days.
Number of recipients
Kela paid sickness allowance to almost 307,000 individuals for their long sickness absences in 2025.
The number of recipients remained roughly the same as in 2024, showing an increase of approximately 1,000 recipients or 0.3%. Relative to the working-age population, Kela has annually paid sickness allowance to approximately 9–10% of the total non-retired population aged 16–67.
Approximately 36,000 customers received partial sickness allowance in 2025, which is more or less the same as in the previous year. The number of recipients has increased by approximately 50% or 12,000 people in the 2020s.
A little over 313,000 sickness allowance payment periods and 35,000 partial sickness allowance payment periods began in 2025.
Kela’s expenditure on sickness allowance
Kela’s total expenditure on sickness allowance and partial sickness allowance paid for long sickness absences was EUR 927 million in 2025.
Kela paid EUR 848 million in sickness allowance and EUR 79 million in partial sickness allowance. Significant reductions were made to sickness allowance in 2025, and Kela’s benefit expenditure decreased by a total of EUR 87 million in real terms when adjusted for inflation.
Over the past 15 years, Kela’s real expenditure on sickness allowance has also otherwise decreased slightly. This decrease is partly explained by a reduction in the number of paid days of sickness allowance and partly by the fact that the average real compensation per day has gradually decreased.
On average, Kela paid EUR 59 per day in sickness allowance and EUR 35 per day in partial sickness allowance in 2025.
In addition to the expenditure on sickness allowance payments made, long absences from work generate costs in the form of lost labour. For example, long sickness absences for mental health reasons are estimated to cause costs of at least EUR 1 billion per year in terms of lost labour.
Most common grounds for sickness allowance
Mental health disorders are the most common reason for long sickness absences for which Kela pays sickness allowance, accounting for a third of them.
Kela paid approximately 102,000 recipients sickness allowance on the grounds of mental health disorders in 2025. Musculoskeletal disorders were the second most common reason as approximately 78,000 individuals received sickness allowance from Kela on their basis.
As recently as in the early 2010s, musculoskeletal disorders were by far the most common reason for long sickness absences, but the number of recipients who get sickness allowance on their basis has decreased. The number of individuals receiving sickness allowance on the grounds of mental health disorders began to rise sharply in 2017.
Mental health disorders surpassed musculoskeletal disorders as the most common grounds for sickness allowance in 2020. However, the rise in sickness allowance paid on the grounds of mental health disorders seems to have levelled out for the time being.
Other common reasons based on which Kela pays sickness allowance include injuries and poisonings, respiratory system diseases, nervous system disorders, tumours, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the circulatory system. Kela pays sickness allowance to approximately 40,000 recipients on the grounds of injuries and poisonings on an annual basis, while the rest account for approximately 10,000–20,000 recipients each.
Most common diagnoses for mental health-based sickness allowance
Anxiety and stress disorders are the most common mental health related grounds for long sickness absences for which Kela pays sickness allowance.
Kela paid approximately 53,000 individuals sickness allowance on the grounds of anxiety and stress disorders in 2025. Depressive disorders were the second most common mental health related reason as approximately 37,000 individuals received sickness allowance from Kela on their basis.
The number of recipients who receive sickness allowance on the grounds of anxiety and stress disorders has nearly tripled since 2016. The number of recipients in this category further increased by about 3% in 2025.
As recently as in 2020, depressive disorders were still the most common mental health related reason for long sickness absences in terms of the number of recipients of sickness allowance for this reason, but the number of recipients has been decreasing since 2021. Anxiety and stress disorders surpassed depressive disorders as the most common reason for long sickness absences in 2021.
In recent years, a diagnosis of mixed anxiety and depressive disorder has become increasingly common within the broader category of anxiety and stress disorders. Changes in diagnostic practices may partly explain the trends observed in the prevalence of depressive disorders versus that of anxiety and stress disorders.
Number of paid sickness allowance days
Kela paid sickness allowance for 14.3 million days and partial sickness allowance for 2.3 million days in 2025.
The number of paid days of sickness allowance decreased by about 3% or 465,000 days compared to the previous year. The average number of paid days of sickness allowance per recipient decreased by two days in 2025 from 48.3 days to 46.6 days. Approximately 65% of the decrease is explained by a reduction in the number of days of sickness allowance paid on the grounds of mental health disorders.
Mental health disorders are the most common grounds for paid days of sickness allowance. They accounted for one third (35%) of all days of sickness allowance paid in 2025. The number of sickness allowance days that are paid on the grounds of mental health disorders and their percentage share of all paid days of sickness allowance have increased overall in the past decade.
Especially the number of sickness allowance days paid on the grounds of anxiety and stress disorders has increased sharply in the past few years. However, because Kela pays sickness allowance for longer periods when depressive disorders are involved, depression still accounts for the largest percentage of paid sickness allowance days.
Musculoskeletal disorders are the next most common reason for paid sickness allowance days. They accounted for one fourth (26%) of all days of sickness allowance paid in 2025. The number of days of sickness allowance paid on the grounds of musculoskeletal disorders has gradually declined over the past two decades.
Gender differences in sickness allowance
Long sickness absences for which Kela pays sickness allowance are more prevalent among women than men.
In 2025, almost two thirds (62%) of all recipients of Kela-paid sickness allowance were women while a little over a third (38%) were men. Women are the most prevalent recipients of sickness allowance in all age groups.
However, men receive, on average, sickness allowance for longer periods than women.
Differences between age groups
Long sickness absences for which Kela pays sickness allowance are more prevalent among older age groups than younger.
The older the age group, the more recipients of sickness allowance. In 2025, approximately 20,000 individuals aged 16–24 received sickness allowance while recipients aged 55–67 numbered at almost 96,000. Over half (54%) of the recipients were 45 or over.
The reasons for granting sickness allowance differ between age groups. The majority of paid sickness allowance days granted to young people are for mental health disorders, while musculoskeletal disorders predominate among older working-age people.
The incidence of sickness allowance paid on the grounds of mental health disorders has increased across all age groups in recent years, and slightly more among women than men. In the 16–34 age group, the upward trend has remained fairly consistent for more than 15 years. By contrast, a clear increase has been seen in older age groups only in the last few years.
Sickness allowance paid on the grounds of mental health disorders is received most commonly by women between the ages of 25 and 34.
Differences between occupational classes
Long sickness absences for which Kela pays sickness allowance have traditionally been more prevalent among manual workers than other occupational classes.
For a long time, sickness allowance was granted more commonly to both male and female manual workers than non-manual employees of either gender. In recent years, however, the differences between occupational classes have changed to a certain extent.
In non-manual occupations, mental health disorders became the most common grounds for sickness allowance in the 2010s. Sickness allowance paid on the grounds of mental health disorders had become so prevalent among lower non-manual employees by the beginning of the 2020s that the occurrence of sickness allowance among this group has since been as common as among all female manual workers in total.
Musculoskeletal disorders remain by far the most common reason for sickness allowance among manual workers. However, the number of manual workers who receive sickness allowance on the grounds of mental health disorders has increased as well.
Self-employed persons receive sickness allowance for fewer periods than wage earners do on average, but the periods are longer.
Labour market trajectories after sickness allowance
Long sickness absences for which Kela pays sickness allowance are often followed by a transition to disability pension sooner or later.
Labour market trajectories following a sickness allowance period are usually fragmented and labour market statuses tend to fluctuate. Subsequent employment is often unlikely among individuals who start receiving sickness allowance while unemployed.
Long periods of sickness allowance are often a precursor to retirement on a disability pension. Even relatively short sickness allowance periods can be predictive of subsequent disability pension retirement several years into the future.
However, not all recipients who use up their sickness allowance entitlement retire on a disability pension as the approval rate for disability pension applications is considerably low and not all recipients apply for the pension. Still, few of those who have used up their sickness allowance entitlement return to paid employment. By contrast, the majority of those who have received partial sickness allowance for the maximum period do return to paid employment.
Retirement on a disability pension is usually preceded by a sickness allowance payment of about 12 months. Those who use up their maximum sickness allowance entitlement use healthcare services extensively before retiring and also long before they begin receiving sickness allowance. On the other hand, those who have received sickness allowance for a long time participate in rehabilitation fairly rarely.
Sickness allowance as an indicator of lengthy sickness absences
Sickness allowance take-up is an indicator of the prevalence of long sickness absences in the working-age population.
Kela can pay sickness allowance to persons aged 18–67 on account of incapacity for work lasting less than a full year, provided that the incapacity lasts longer than the waiting period. The minimum age for sickness allowance was 16 years until the beginning of 2025 when a legislative amendment raised the minimum age limit. The waiting period consists of the first day of illness and the following nine working days.
Kela can pay partial sickness allowance to persons who face work capacity related challenges but who can continue working on a part-time basis while registered as disabled for work.
