Fewer foreign-language recipients of social assistance and unemployment benefits than before
The size of the foreign-language population and its percentage of the total Finnish population have increased. In the past decade or so, the percentage of foreign-language recipients of unemployment benefits and social assistance has decreased. A considerable degree of variation exists in the percentages of foreign-language recipients across different Kela benefits.
In 2025, Kela’s expenditure on key subsistence-related social security benefits amounted to approximately EUR 9.2 billion, which is more than half of Kela’s total benefit expenditure. Altogether 20%, i.e. approximately EUR 1.8 billion, of the amount was paid to foreign-language recipients.
The key subsistence-related social security benefits comprise national pension, child care allowances, basic social assistance, sickness allowance, guarantee pension, labour market subsidy, basic unemployment allowance, daily allowances for parents and general housing allowance.
Almost ten years earlier, in 2017, Kela’s expenditure on the same benefits was EUR 8.6 billion, of which 15% was paid to foreign-language recipients.
Over the same period of almost a decade, the foreign-language population of Finland has grown by over 70%. The foreign-language population numbered at 373,000 in 2017 and at 646,000 in 2025 with 506,000 members of the population being adults.
“As the foreign-language population of Finland has grown, their percentage of all recipients of Kela benefits has naturally increased as well. This trend is a reflection of overall demographic change,” says Signe Jauhiainen, Head of Research at Kela.
A considerable degree of variation exists in the percentages of foreign-language recipients across different benefits. For example, over 40% of Kela’s total expenditure on basic social assistance was paid to foreign-language recipients in 2025, while the corresponding figure for national pension recipiency was under 5% in the same year.
The deciding factor used in compiling these statistics is native language. Not all members of Finland’s foreign-language population are immigrants and not all immigrants are members of the foreign-language population.
A smaller percentage of the foreign-language population than before receiving social assistance or labour market subsidy
The recipiency percentage for basic social assistance has decreased among the foreign-language population of Finland. In 2017, approximately 23% of the adult foreign-language population were paid social assistance with the corresponding percentage being 18% in 2025.
However, the number of foreign-language recipients of social assistance has increased from 110,000 in 2017 to a total of 137,000 in 2025. Altogether 92,000 of all recipients in 2025 were adults and 45,000 children. There were 65,000 fewer recipients of social assistance who spoke Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as their native language in 2025 than in 2017.
“The number of social assistance recipients who speak Ukrainian as their native language has grown significantly since 2023. The increase in the number of foreign-language benefit recipients is largely explained by the existence of this group,” says Jauhiainen.
Altogether 24% (EUR 172 million) of the total expenditure on social assistance was paid to foreign-language recipients in 2017, while the corresponding figures were 41% and 408 million in 2025.
The statistics for labour market subsidy show a similar trend. The percentage of recipients among the adult foreign-language population decreased from 24% in 2017 to 16% in 2025. Altogether EUR 597 million was paid in labour market subsidy to foreign-language recipients in 2025, which was a third of the total expenditure on labour market subsidy in that year.
The labour market subsidy and the basic unemployment allowance were replaced by a new General Support benefit from 1 May 2026. Unemployment benefits are paid during periods of unemployment and while participating in employment and integration services. Ukrainians living in Finland under temporary protection are not entitled to labour market subsidy.
“Fewer members of the foreign-language population than before are receiving unemployment benefits or social assistance, which suggests that a larger proportion of our growing foreign-language population is employed or studying,” says Jauhiainen.
Statistics on general housing allowance affected by transfer of students under the student housing supplement scheme
The percentage of general housing allowance recipients has decreased among the foreign-language population. In 2017, Kela paid general housing allowance to 26% of the adult foreign-language population, while this figure was only 18% in 2025.
Altogether 19% of the total expenditure on general housing allowance was paid to foreign-language recipients in 2017. This percentage has increased in recent years after Ukrainians who had fled the war to Finland became eligible for Finnish social security and cuts made to general housing allowance resulted in a decrease in the number of recipients who speak Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as a native language. In 2025, altogether 27% of the total expenditure on general housing allowance was paid the foreign-language population.
“The percentage of foreign-language recipients of housing allowance increased significantly last year because students were transferred under the student housing supplement scheme. During the same year, persons living in owner-occupied housing also lost the right to general housing allowance. This means that the composition of general housing allowance recipients has changed,” says Signe Jauhiainen.
Barely any changes in the percentage of foreign-language recipients of Kela-paid pensions
Kela paid guarantee pension to approximately 10,000 foreign-language recipients in 2017, which amounted to 3.5% of the adult foreign-language population. In 2025, the number of foreign-language recipients was 17,000, but their percentage of the adult foreign-language population remained the same.
On the other hand, Kela paid national pension to over 27,000 foreign-language recipients in 2017, which amounted to 9.4% of the adult foreign-language population. In 2025, foreign-language recipients numbered at a little under 22,000, which corresponds to 4.4% of the adult foreign-language population.
To a very large extent, persons defined as foreign-language recipients of national pension have no registered native language. In 2025, the number of these recipients dropped by half, which reduced the number of foreign-language recipients of national pension from a little under 32,000 to 22,000. In the same year, Kela stopped paying national pension to recipients residing in countries other than Finland.
In 2025, Kela paid EUR 104 million in guarantee pension to foreign-language recipients, which amounted to a third of the total expenditure on guarantee pension, and EUR 82 million in national pension, i.e. 4% of the total expenditure on national pensions.
“Before you can qualify for a national pension, you must have lived in Finland for a long time, and a shorter period of residence reduces the amount of pension you can get. The purpose of the guarantee pension is to secure a minimum pension for all people living in Finland. This means that you can get it even if you have lived in Finland for a shorter period of time,” says Jauhiainen.
Number of foreign-language recipients of family benefits declining, little change in sickness allowance recipiency
Over 16,000 members of the foreign-language population received daily allowances for parents in 2017. In 2025, this figure was slightly under 25,000. However, the percentage of the adult foreign-language population in receipt of daily allowances for parents has decreased slightly from 5.6% in 2017 to 4.9% in 2025.
Kela paid altogether EUR 82 million in daily allowances for parents to foreign-language recipients in 2017, which amounted to 9% of all expenditure on daily allowances for parents. In 2025, this figure was EUR 154 million, i.e. 12% of the total expenditure on daily allowances for parents.
The number of foreign-language recipients of child care allowances has decreased between 2017 and 2025, but not to the same extent as that of recipients with Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as their native language. The percentage of foreign-language recipients of child care allowances has also decreased from 5.5% in 2017 to 2.8% in 2025.
Kela paid altogether EUR 62 million in child care allowances to foreign-language recipients in 2017 and EUR 49 million in 2025. The percentage of the total expenditure on child care allowances was 15% in 2017 and 20% in 2025.
Slightly fewer than 15,000 members of the foreign-language population received sickness allowance in 2017 while this figure rose to just over 23,000 in 2025. Statistics for the past decade or so show an annual recipiency percentage of approximately 5% for sickness allowance among the adult foreign-language population. The annual recipiency percentage for sickness allowance among the total population is approximately 9–10%.
Kela paid altogether EUR 60 million in sickness allowance to foreign-language recipients in 2025, which amounted to 7% of the total expenditure on sickness allowance.
More information:
Signe Jauhiainen
Head of Research, Kela
tel. 020 634 1958
signe.jauhiainen@kela.fi
Persons with some other language than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi registered as their native language in Kela’s benefit register were classified as members of the foreign-language population for the purposes of the statistics presented in this article. In addition, persons with no registered native language were classified as members of the foreign-language population even though, in reality, this category also includes native speakers of Finnish, Swedish or Sámi.
All figures in euro presented herein are in nominal terms, which means that the impact of inflation has not been taken into account.
This article uses statistics on the Finnish population compiled by Statistics Finland in addition to Kela’s benefit register data.
