OECD ECONOMIC SURVEY OF FINLAND
Steering towards a higher and more sustainable growth path
Helsinki 23 May 2025
oe.cd/finland
While Finland’s economy showed resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, GDP has stagnated in recent years
Source: OECD, National Accounts database.
Consumer and business confidence has yet to return to high levels
Consumer and business confidence
Indicator
Industry confidence (left axis)
Consumer confidence (right axis)
Note: The indicators show the average of the difference (in percentage points) in positive and negative answers to the questions that make up each indicator.
Source: European Commission.
GDP growth is projected to improve gradually
Real GDP growth, %
Unemployment rate, %
Harmonised consumer price inflation, %
Source: OECD Economic Outlook database.
Improving public finances
The fiscal deficit is set to decline
Further reforms, including more use of home-based long-term care, are required to contain ageing-related spending pressures
Projected change in annual ageing expenditure,¹ between 2024 and 2040 Per cent of potential GDP
1. Expenditure on pensions, healthcare and long-term care.
Source: Guillemette, Y. and J. Château (2023), “Long-term scenarios update: incorporating the energy transition”, OECD Economic Policy Paper, No. 33.
Further fiscal room, including by increasing public sector efficiency, is needed to accommodate rising defence spending
Defence expenditure as a share of GDP, for NATO member states % of GDP
Source: NATO, Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2024).
Raising higher education attainment
Shorter graduate courses would free up more places for firsttime applicants, which have increased but remain insufficient
18- to 24-year-old first-time applicants to a higher education institution with a prior education in Finland
Source: Finland Education Statistics; Statistics Finland; OECD.
Note: Higher education expenditure on research and development is the component of gross domestic expenditure on research and development incurred by units, including universities, colleges and other post-secondary institutions, belonging to the higher education sector.
Source: OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators database.
Attracting and retaining more high-skilled workers
The share of foreign-born is rising
Source: United Nations.
Improving
Flexible language policies in the workplace and better local language training would help attract and retain more migrants
Note: The advanced host-country language proficiency indicator measures the share of the foreign-born who report having advanced skills in the host country’s main language or who declare it as their mother tongue.
Source: OECD Indicators of Immigrant Integration 2023.
Accelerating the transition to net zero
More action is required to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035
Greenhouse gas emissions and targets
Million tonnes CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2-e)
Note: The projection shows the baseline scenario in Koljonen et al. (2024); more information on underlying assumptions for the scenario can be found there. Actual data to 2023 and projections from 2024 onwards. Projections are spliced to revised historical emissions data released in January 2025 assuming emissions will fall at the same rate but from a higher starting point. LULUCF stands for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry.
Source: Statistics Finland; Koljonen, T. et al. (2022), Carbon-Neutral Finland 2035: Scenarios and Impact Assessments, VTT Technology, No. 366, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
Unlocking more of Finland’s green energy supply potential is an important pathway to net zero
Electricity generation from renewable sources
Note: Actual plus potential generation are shown for Finland. Only actual generation is shown for other countries and regions to provide a scale benchmark for Finland’s electricity potential.
Source: International Energy Agency; Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology.
Reinforcing grid lines and promoting energy storage are key to strengthening the electricity system
prices and volatility
price, 2024 second half (left axis)
Note: Electricity prices are for non-household consumers and include taxes and levies. 2024 first half data for Lithuania and Slovenia. Price volatility is measured as the standard deviation of daily wholesale day-ahead prices (excluding taxes and levies) for 2024. KWhe stands for kilowatt-hour equivalent.
Source: Eurostat; Ember.
Providing greater support to research and development would facilitate more private investment also in the green transition
Direct government funding and government tax support for business research and development (R&D)
Share of GDP, 2023
Direct government funding of business R&D
Government tax relief for R&D expenditures
Note: In 2024, the Finnish government introduced a EUR 400 million direct grant scheme to support investments to decarbonise industry.
Source: OECD Research and Development Tax Incentives Database.
Projects to decarbonise electricity generation and industry need to take account of biodiversity and competing land uses
Threatened species as a share of known species, 2019 or latest available year
Source: OECD Green Growth database.
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