Information package: Sickness absence

One of Kela’s responsibilities is to compensate for the loss of earnings by paying sickness allowance for long absences. The following is a brief overview of the current state of sickness absences compensated under the sickness allowance scheme and of recent trends. At the end, you will find links to more material on this topic from Kela, including statistics and studies on sickness absences.

The number of recipients of sickness allowance increased slightly in 2021

A total of 305,000 persons received sickness allowance payments from Kela in 2021. After a minor decrease in 2020, the number of recipients of sickness allowance began to increase again in 2021, reaching the 2019 level. The decline in 2020 was probably due to the various effects of the COVID-19 epidemic.

 

In 2021, the number of persons receiving sickness allowance increased by about 10,400 or 3.5% compared to 2020. In the non-retired, working-age population between 16 and 67, 9.5% received sickness allowance payments in 2021. 

 

The most common reason for receiving sickness allowance in 2021 was mental health disorders, with approximately 95,400 recipients of sickness allowance. Some 84,300 people received sickness allowance due to musculoskeletal disorders.

 

In recent years, sickness allowance due to mental health disorders has become more common, while musculoskeletal disorders have become a less common cause.

 

 

 

Mental health disorders now the most common reason for sickness allowance

 

In 2021, Kela paid sickness allowance for a total of 14.7 million days. The number of days on sickness allowance increased by 242,000 (about 2%) on the previous year. Total expenditure on sickness allowances came to 856 million euros.

 

In addition, partial sickness allowance was paid in 2021 for 1.7 million days at a total cost of 60 million euros. The number of days on partial sickness allowance counted as a percentage of the total number of days on full or partial sickness allowance has increased slightly for several years. In 2021, it stood at 10 per cent.

 

Mental health disorders accounted for a good third (36%) of the days on sickness allowance, while musculoskeletal disorders accounted for 26%. The number of compensated days on sickness allowance due to musculoskeletal disorders has declined consistently for more than ten years. 

 

In contrast, the number of days on sickness allowance due to mental health disorders has increased over the past few years and so has their percentage of the total days on sickness allowance. Mental health disorders now result in a much higher number of days on sickness allowance and in much larger benefit expenditures than musculoskeletal diseases do.

 

Women receive sickness allowance more often than men

 

Women accounted for 61% of the recipients of sickness allowance in 2021. There are more recipients in older than in younger age groups.

 

Mental health disorders leading reason for sickness allowance payments among young people, diseases of the musculoskeletal system predominate in older age groups

 

Among young people, the majority of sickness allowance payments are due to mental health disorders, while musculoskeletal diseases predominate among older people.

 

Sickness absences due to mental health disorders and covered by Kela have increased in all age groups in recent years, with a slightly larger increase among women than among men. Sickness allowance payments linked to mental health disorders have increased consistently in the 16 to 34 age group for more than 15 years. By contrast, a clear increase has been seen in older age groups only in the last few years.

 

 

The largest category of mental health disorders linked with sickness absenteeism and sickness allowance recipiency is depressive disorders, followed by anxiety disorders. The increase seen since 2016 in mental health related sickness allowance payments is almost entirely due to these two categories.

 

The increase in the number of daily sickness allowance days due to anxiety disorders has been particularly sharp in recent years.

 

Marked occupational and regional differences in sickness absences

 

Lengthy sickness absences are more common in manual occupations than in non-manual occupations. Sickness allowance payments due particularly to musculoskeletal disorders are more common among persons performing physically demanding work than in other groups.

 

Sickness allowance payments on account of mental health disorders show smaller differences between occupational groups. Among lower non-manual workers, and particularly among women, sickness absences due to mental health disorders are, however, more common than among those in other occupational categories.

 

Self-employed persons have fewer sickness absences than wage earners, but they are longer than the average.

 

The regional differences in lengthy sickness absences are aligned with general regional differences in health: The number of sickness allowance payments is above the average among those living in Northern and Eastern Finland, and below the average in Southern Finland, especially in Uusimaa. Over the past years, trends in the regional differences have been broadly similar in all regions.

 

The regional differences are also reflected in the distribution of sickness allowance expenditures among the regions.

 

Long sickness absence is often a precursor to retirement on a disability pension

 

A good third of all sickness allowance payments lasts more than 30 days (the allowance is paid for working days from Monday to Saturday). Long periods of sickness absence are often a precursor to retirement on a disability pension. Yet even relatively short sickness allowance payments can be predictive of subsequent disability pension retirement several years into the future.

 

Retirement on a disability pension is usually preceded by a sickness allowance payment of about 12 months. Among those receiving sickness allowance for a maximum period of time, a frequent use of health services occurs before they retire. A frequent use of health services is also seen before the start of a long period of absence due to sickness.

 

However, not all who use up their sickness allowance entitlement retire, because their application for a pension may be denied or they may not even file an application. Still, few of those who use up their sickness allowance entitlement return to paid employment. By contrast, the majority of those who have used partial sickness allowance for the maximum period go back to paid employment after the end of their partial sickness allowance period.

 

Sickness allowance as an indicator of lengthy sickness absences

 

Sickness allowance recipiency is an indicator of the prevalence of long sickness absences in the working-age population. Sickness allowance can be paid to persons between 16 and 67 on account of disability lasting less than a full year, provided that the incapacity lasts longer than the waiting period, which consists of the first day of incapacity and the following nine working days.

 

A partial sickness allowance can be paid to persons who face work capacity related challenges but who can continue working on a part-time basis while registered as disabled for work.