On this page

1. Main challenges to social inclusion

2. Definitions and concepts

Main challenges to social inclusion

Racism, discrimination, violence and bullying, mental health issues and homelessness are recognized as main challenges and are addressed in current policy initiatives.

Racism and discrimination

On 31 August 2023, the Government issued a statement to Parliament on promoting equality, gender equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society. The statement contains a variety of measures aiming to promote equality and combat racism. Many of them are based on the Government Programme, but the statement also includes several new measures. For more information, see the press release (31.8.2023) and the government's constantly updated website Promoting equality. According to the Being Black in the EU study (2018), published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, racial harassment and discrimination are experienced more in Finland than in many other EU member state. In the 2023 Being Black in the EU study, Finland had the third highest level of discrimination on any ground.

Similarly, the findings of the MoniSuomi study (2022-2023), published by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, show that more than 40% of the adult population that are born abroad, have experienced discrimination in the past year. Both of these publications are referred to in the blog published on 18 January 2024 by the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, entitled ‘The recent research results emphasise the need for actions related to rooting out racism and developing equality’ (available in Finnish). The blog is written by Airin Bahmani, who works as a junior specialist at the Office of the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman.

Violence, bullying and mental health

Based on the 2023 School Health Promotion Study the proportion of children and young people who have been bullied at least once a week by gender and school level in the period 2006‒2023, is about 10 % among girls in grades 4-5 (10-11 years old) and generally among pupils in grades 8-9 (13-15 years old) (Helenius & Kivimäki 2023). In the study, bullying refers to the harassment of a pupil by another pupil or a group of pupils either verbally or physically. Teasing a pupil repeatedly in ways they do not like is also considered bullying. An argument between two roughly equal pupils is not considered bullying. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare implements the study every other year. The study is carried out in educational institutions as an anonymous, independently completed online survey, which is filled out by the pupils and students in classes or groups during the school day.

In the same study, the amount of social inclusion was measured with the ‘Experiences of Social Inclusion Scale’ (in Finnish), which has been developed by the institute. The proportion of young people who experienced extremely poor social inclusion varies by gender and school level in the period 2019–2023 from about 5 to 15 %, with girls in grades 8-9 (13-15 years old) feeling the most socially excluded. Social inclusion indicator includes several aspects of social inclusion, such as, whether the respondents feel they have the power to make an impact, whether they count their actions as being meaningful, and whether they feel a sense of belonging in communities they consider to be important. (For more information about the instrument see also Experiences of social inclusion scale (ESIS) by the European Commission’s European Social Fund Plus).

The National youth work and youth policy programme 2024–2027 also raises the issue of young people’s mental health, and long-term policymaking initiatives include the National Mental Health Strategy and Programme for Suicide Prevention 2020–2030 (in Finnish). Concrete measures include The therapy guarantee for children and young people's mental health (in Finnish), which came into force on 1 May 2025.

Youth homelessness

The National youth work and youth policy programme 2024–2027 and The Government programme (2024-2027) recognize youth homelessness as a current issue and mention the Programme for eradicating long-term homelessness by 2027 as a central policy initiative. Young people are recognised as a special target group in this programme. 

Definitions and concepts

Several definitions and concepts relating to social inclusion, which are used in Finland, are rooted in the European discussion. For example, the Homeless people 2024 report states that the definition of homelessness is aligned with the EU level ETHOS Light classification (European Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion). Thus, there are no significant country-specific definitions and concepts. The use of concepts as social inclusion, social exclusion and the NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training), are defined similarly in most of the European countries.