The legal basis for young people’s health and wellbeing is grounded in the Health Care Act (in Finnish, also available in Swedish). Regarding young people’s health and well-being, schools have an important role in Finland. A young person is entitled to have school health care, dental care, contraception and other sexual health counselling for young people. For an overview of current policies and initiatives regarding healthy lifestyle, eating and nutrition, sexual health, fighting risky behaviour and substance abuse, see YouthWiki/Finland 7.4 Healthy lifestyles and healthy nutrition. 

For more information on the legal framework and distribution of responsibilities, see YouthWiki/Finland 7.2. Administration and governance. It is important to note that the organisation of public healthcare, social welfare and rescue services has been reformed, and the responsibility for organising these services has been transferred from municipalities to wellbeing services counties (see also Glossary) from 2023. The key objective of the reform is to improve the availability and quality of basic public services throughout Finland, to reinforce primary level services and to shift the emphasis towards preventive work.  

Promoting health and wellbeing is intertwined with the European Youth Goals. According to the 2024 Future National Activities Planner (FNAP), the Youth Goal 5: Mental Health and Wellbeing is implemented in the objectives of Finland’s National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme 2024-2027. The goal is approached through three themes: 1) A path forward for every young person, 2) Diverse information and tools to support young people's mental health and 3) Supporting the wellbeing of young people by strengthening inclusion, communality and safety.  

According to the FNAP 2024, Finland’s concrete measures include ‘continuing the support for outreach youth work, increasing low-threshold hobbies, implementation of the National Mental Health Strategy, increasing the pedagogical competence preventing bullying, violence and harassment and piloting participation structures for young people in central government administration’. YouthWiki/ Finland 7.3 Sport, youth fitness and physical activity, YouthWiki/ Finland 7.5 Mental health, YouthWiki/Finland 7.6 Mechanisms of early detection and signposting of young people facing health risks, and YouthWiki/Finland 7.7 Making health facilities more youth friendly provide more information on how these measures are realized on the national level.