Finnish Experiences
Mikkonen, J. (2012). Finnish experiences. In D. Raphael (Ed.), Tackling health inequalities: Lessons from international experiences (pp. 155-184). Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press. http://cspi.org/books/tackling_health_inequalities Chapter 6 Finnish Experiences1 Juha Mikkonen Introduction Historically, the Finnish welfare state model has been based on the universal provision of equal social rights for all. ese rights are clearly dened in the Constitution of Finland (see Box 6.1). Finland belongs to the group of Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland) that all share the same commitment to provide basic security, free education, and social and health services for everyone regardless of income and wealth. ese welfare services are equally available to all citizens and funded through relatively high levels of progressive taxation. In Esping-Andersen’s (1990) welfare typology, Finland is identied as a social democratic welfare regime, which generally emphasizes full employment and the role of the state in ensur- ing adequate income and service provision for citizens (Saint-Arnaud & Bernard, 2003). In international comparison, the Nordic social and economic model has been successful in pre- venting deep poverty and profound economic inequalities among citizens. Finnish society has strived to combine social equality with economic competitiveness. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Fin- land is the seventh most equal of 30 most developed OECD countries in terms of income disparities. Poverty rates in Finland are relatively low, but have increased since the recession of the 1990s (OECD, 2008). In terms of economic competitiveness, the World Economic Forum ranks Finland as the sixth most competitive economy in the world (Schwab, 2009).
[Show full text]