Finland

2023

Commemorative coin

Social and health services

Official Journal of the European Union

The design represents a stylized map of Finland. The left-hand side bears the lettering ‘WELL-BEING’ in Finnish and Swedish. The year of issuance ‘2023’ is slightly on the left-hand side in the middle of the coin. At the bottom is the indication of the issuing country ‘FI’. At the right hand-side is the mintmark of the Mint of Finland. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

Finland was predominantly rural until the end of the 1960s. Finland's late industrialisation and rather weak social democracy explains the relatively late development of a Finnish welfare state - compared to Sweden and the other Nordic countries - which only took place in the 1970s and 80s. The aim of social security in the Nordic welfare model is to ensure a minimum income and adequate consumption for all residents, including in the event of illness, unemployment, incapacity for work or old age. Some of the social security benefits (e.g. the pension system) are based on gainful employment, while others are mainly based on residence in Finland. Examples of residence-based benefits are child benefits and day care. In Finland, healthcare spending accounted for just under 10% of GDP in 2020 and social spending for 29% in 2022. In the 'World Happiness Report' published by Columbia University, New York, since 2012, Finland ranked first among the happiest countries in the world in 2023 for the sixth year in a row - not least thanks to its strong social safety net, excellent education system and work-life balance. "HYVINVOINTI VÄLFÄRD" (Well-being, in Finnish and Swedish) is the text shown in a semicircle on the left.

Edge lettering

Designer