“The difference in life expectancy between wage earners has grown rapidly in Finland. The richest men – those in the top fifth of earners – have ahead of them, on average, a 12.5-year longer life than what awaits those men in the lowest fifth. The corresponding difference between women is 6.8 years.

Such a difference is the result of the poorest’s life expectancy staying at early 1990s levels while the richest’s has risen.

‘On average, Finns’ health has improved, but differences between social groups have grown markedly in the space of 25 years,’ says project manager Tuulia Rotko of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

The differences in mortality rates between socioeconomic groups in Finland are more pronounced than in other western European countries. The difference means that not only do high-ranking clerks, the highly educated, and high wage earners live longer, they are also noticeably healthier and more capable than those who only completed the first nine years of school, manual workers and low earners. In addition, unemployed people are, on average, in worse health than their employed counterparts.

Earnings are also connected to one’s access to health services. Of all OECD countries, in Finland, in particular, is seen the largest difference between rich and poor in terms of the frequency a person visits a doctor. Relative to their needs, Finland’s rich go the doctor’s far more than its poor do.

‘People in a better socioeconomic position are able to see a doctor more easily, and, of course, those with private health insurance paid for by an employer see one straight away. People who go to a health centre are forced to wait. Also, people in work, upon falling ill, must go to see a doctor in order to obtain forms authorising sick leave,’ explains Unto Häkkinen of THL.

Ilmo Keskimäki, also of THL, says that there are also differences between socioeconomic groups in Finland when it comes to receiving preventative services, such as health checks, and surgery. Bypass surgery and percutaneous transluminal angioplasties are given far less to lower socialeconomic groups than higher ones.”

TURUN SANOMAT 9 October