Basic Services Case Study

As discussed in Chapter 2, the elderly dependency rate in Finland is relatively high compared to other OECD countries, and it will become higher as the population ages. Between 40% and 50% of current municipal employees in Finland’s regions are expected to retire by 2020, which might present particular problems for remote areas where both retirement rates and public employment shares are higher. In addition, the ageing population will create new needs for welfare services. Finally, there are internal migration trends towards urban centres in Finland population growth is concentrated in urban regions in central and southwest Finland, and even within remote regions the population growth in cities is significant.