Income growth among young adults in Finland has fallen behind older generations, with people under 35 still earning less in real terms than before the 2008 financial crisis, according to a purchasing power review published by STTK on Tuesday.

The Finnish Confederation of Professionals said its long-term figures show a widening gap between age groups. While real incomes have risen across all generations since 1966, older workers have received a larger share of that growth.

Plastic Surgery Center clinic on Aleksanterinkatu in Helsinki on 9 September 2026. Photo: Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva

Finnish regulators have suspended healthcare services at two Plastic Surgery Center companies operating from the same premises in central Helsinki after inspectors found serious risks to patient safety.

The Licensing and Supervisory Agency, LVV, carried out an unannounced inspection at the Aleksanterinkatu premises of Plastic Surgery Center Helsinki Oy and Plastic Surgery Center Tampere Oy on 9 September. The agency ordered both providers to stop healthcare services with immediate effect.

The completed eastern border fence in Nuijamaa during a Finnish Border Guard press event near the Nuijamaa border crossing in Lappeenranta on 7 September 2026. Photo: Lauri Heino / Str / Lehtikuva

Finland has completed a 200-kilometre barrier fence along its border with Russia, ending a major security project launched after the country reassessed risks along its eastern frontier. The fence covers selected sections of Finland’s 1,340-kilometre border and is intended to deter unauthorised crossings and strengthen surveillance.

The Finnish Border Guard announced the completion of the project on Monday at an event in Nuijamaa, near the Russian border in south-eastern Finland.

For most of the last century gambling in Finland has only had one name: Veikaus. The state-owned casino has held the exclusive rights to operate everything from slot machines in grocery stores to online betting and lottery. With all the proceeds going back to sport, culture, science and youth. The current single operator model is being changed to a multi operator system. This is big change in the landscape and worth knowing about for anyone living in Finland.

A Market Built Around One State Operator

The approach in Finland has been very different from other countries in the EU. Countries like Malta and Estonia already issue commercial gambling licenses to private operators for years. Finland has kept nearly all forms of gambling under the single Veikkaus brand. Most Fins grew up with this system and rarely question it, even while neighbouring markets have been trying to take over the last few years.

What the New Gambling Act Actually Does

With the new reform passed by parliament, the exclusivity of veikkaus gets narrowed a lot. Betting, online casino, and slot machine are now under a licensed and competitive model. This means that private operators can apply for a license to legally offer these services in Finland for the first time. This does not mean Veikkaus is pissapearing from the picture. It keeps its monopoly of lotteries, scratch cards, and physical gambling. On top of that it can also apply for a competitive license among all the private operators.

The Timeline: Applications, Monopoly End, and Launch

The big change is not happening overnight, but rather in stages. Operators have been able to submit license applications since the beginning of 2026, which gives the regulators time vet all parties before launching the market. The current exclusive rights of Veikkaus end at the closing of 2026. The newly licensed operators are then expected to go live in 2027, at which the newly established Finnish Supervisory Agency takes the regulatory role from the National Police Board. They will handle all licensing and compliance monitoring of the Finnish market.

Where Finnish Players Have Already Been Playing in the Meantime

Finnish players have not really waited for the ending of the monopoly and launch of the licensed market. Under EU freedom-of-services rules, licensed operators from other countries in the European Economic Area, are also able to offer their gambling services to Finnish customers regardless of the domestic monopoly. Most commonly Maltese or Estonian licenses are used for this. According to the Suomalaiset nettikasinot page of Kasinopartio, there are already a total of 103 fully finnish online casinos in 2026, with foreign licenses. These casino are translated in Finnish, have local payment methods like zimpler and Viljo, and often offer instant registration with your bank credentials. This is most centernaily a good example of what the legalised Finnish market will look like.

Consumer Protection Under the New Rules

The new reform is not only about opening up the market for new competition. It wil also add new consumer protection that was previously handled by operators themselves or not at all. Licensed providers will be required to confirm that players are 18 or older, be connected to the centralized self-exclusion system, and offer tools such as player depositing and time limits.

What It Means for the Market Going Forward

When the licensing system is fully in place in 2027, Finland will have a very similar system to other Baltic and Nordic countries: a regulated and competitive market with a single regulatory body. For Veikkaus it means dealing with competition for the first time. For players it means safer and a more competitive market.

Photo: Finnish Border Guard

Finnish Border Guard officers found six people hidden inside a vehicle that arrived at Helsinki port on a passenger ferry from Tallinn, authorities said on Friday.

The group, consisting of five Eritrean nationals and one Moroccan national, was found on Sunday, 6 September. The Border Guard said they were attempting to enter Finland illegally.

The man contacted around 900 boys aged 9 to 15 on Snapchat between 2019 and 2022 and asked them to send sexually explicit images. Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva

A 28-year-old man has gone on trial in Tampere accused of sexual offences involving 361 boys across Finland, in a case prosecutors say involved contact with children through Snapchat over several years. Police estimate the number of possible victims at about 900, although hundreds have not been identified.

Pirkanmaa District Court opened proceedings on Monday with a public presentation of the case.

Between Wednesday and Sunday, much of the country is expected to receive 20–30 millimetres of rain. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva

Drivers in parts of Finland face a risk of slippery roads on Tuesday morning as overnight temperatures fall towards freezing, before a change in the weather brings widespread rain from Wednesday, according to Foreca.

Clear skies and light winds will allow temperatures to fall overnight, with frost possible in parts of the country. The risk will be highest across central and northern Finland, where road surfaces could drop below freezing.

People walk past the UNRWA Vocational Training Centre, where Israeli security forces have remained since raiding the facility on August 25, at the Qalandia refugee camp, south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on August 27, 2026. Photo: Zain Jaafar / AFP / Lehtikuva

Finnish opposition politicians and development organisations are pressing the government to reverse its decision to end direct funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, arguing that other humanitarian organisations cannot replace UNRWA's operations in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Finland has provided UNRWA with €5 million a year under its 2023–2026 funding agreement.

Blue-and-Black Movement demonstrators march during the “The time for remigration is now!” demonstration in Helsinki on 5 September 2026. Photo: Mikko Stig / Str / Lehtikuva

Around 900 people took part in two separate demonstrations in central Helsinki on Saturday, as police deployed extra officers and planned routes to prevent an antifascist march and a Blue-and-Black movement demonstration from meeting.

Police estimated that around 600 people joined the antifascist demonstration and around 300 took part in the Blue-and-Black movement march.

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) bids farewell to Finland's President Alexander Stubb (R) after their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on September 10, 2026. Photo: Ludovic Marin / AFP / Lehtikuva

Finland has joined France’s European nuclear deterrence initiative, expanding defence cooperation with Paris while ruling out the stationing of nuclear weapons on Finnish territory in peacetime.

President Alexander Stubb said on Monday that the initiative was intended to strengthen European security, increase Europe’s responsibility for its own defence and reduce the risk of escalation.

Fitburg cargo ship captain Andrei Maksimenko (left) and lawyer Olli Etelämäki at Helsinki District Court on 8 September 2026. Photo: Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva

Prosecutors in Helsinki are seeking prison terms of at least two years and six months for the captain and boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg over damage to two undersea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland on 31 December 2025. Both men deny the charges and dispute Finland’s jurisdiction in the case.

The trial began at Helsinki District Court on Tuesday.

The Amur leopard cubs together, with the female on the left and the male on the right. The cubs will be given names beginning with the letter S. Photo: Annika Sorjonen / Korkeasaari Zoo

Two critically endangered Amur leopard cubs have been born at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, marking the first birth of the species at the zoo in 11 years.

The male and female cubs were born at the end of July and have reached five weeks of age. They weigh about 2.5 kilograms each and remain in their den with their mother.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio pictured in Helsinki on 24 August 2026. Photo: Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva

Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio has rejected trade restrictions on goods from Israeli settlements, putting him at odds with Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen days after Finland joined an international statement supporting such measures.

Tavio told Helsingin Sanomat that Finland is not preparing national restrictions on imports from Israeli settlements and that he would not support an EU proposal introducing such measures.

Illustrative photo of a woman getting botullium toxin injections.

Finnish authorities have ordered Medical Centre Estetic Oy (Lääkäriklinikka Estetic Oy) in Helsinki to stop providing healthcare services after inspectors found unlicensed medicines, unauthorised treatments and deficiencies affecting patient, data and medical device safety.

The Licensing and Supervisory Agency carried out an unannounced inspection at the clinic on 26 August together with the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea and the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency Tukes.

Fog is forecasted to cover parts of Finland on Saturday morning before clearing as winds strengthen during the day. Photo: Teemu Salonen / Lehtikuva

Finland will see lower temperatures, rain and stronger northerly winds this weekend as colder air spreads south across the country, according to weather service Foreca.

A low-pressure system will move east of Finland during the weekend, allowing colder air from the north to reach much of the country. Temperatures in Lapland have already fallen as northerly winds strengthened on Friday.