Data on Poverty
Finnish data | International comparative data | Search FSD database | Links related to poverty
Poverty and social exclusion are complex phenomena. It is possible to measure poverty by a person's or household's disposable resources, such as income, property, or possibilities of earning a living. In addition, the living conditions of research subjects and their subjective experiences of poverty can be investigated through questions on topics such as consumption, well-being, financial situation, income, receiving social assistance, possession of goods, exclusion, and participation. The respondents' views on the notion of minimum income (i.e. the minimum amount of money needed by a household to achieve an acceptable standard of living) are often queried as well.
This web page gives information on survey and interview data suited for poverty research archived at the FSD. There is also a list of links to other information sources related to poverty at the bottom of the page, including different statistics and register data. The data archived at the FSD are freely available for research and teaching purposes. More information on how to order data.
All quantitative datasets archived at the FSD have study descriptions in English. More detailed information on the variables of each dataset can be found in the codebooks attached to each survey. However, there are codebooks in English only for those datasets which have already been translated into English. More datasets are translated on request.
Finnish Data
- Student welfare, including the financial situation of students, is charted in University Student Health Surveys and International Students in Finnish Universities 2007.
- Poverty and Welfare Survey 1995 was based on the consensual measurement of poverty conducted at the Department of Social Policy at the University of Turku and charted Finns' living conditions.
- Welfare Surveys chart both material and immaterial well-being. The data have been collected by the Department of Social Policy at the University of Turku and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland in 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2000.
- Surveys charting the living conditions of social assistance recipients are available from the years 1987 and 1996.
- The Inhabitants' Welfare Surveys conducted by the Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health chart, for example, the respondents' satisfaction and financial conditions in different regions of Finland. The following surveys are available: Eastern Lapland, East Helsinki, Central Finland, North Karelia, Koillismaa and Satakunta, and Oulu and Joensuu.
International Comparative Data
- Eurobarometers are carried out simultaneously in the European Union member countries, thus enabling international comparisons. The barometers have charted, for example, the respondents' financial situation and its development. Poverty and/or social exclusion has been a theme in 1976 (EB 5), 1989 (EB 31A), 1993 (EB 40), 1999 (EB 52.1), 2001 (EB 56.1), and 2007 (EB 67.1). More detailed information on the variables can be found at the website of the German Data Archive GESIS: EB Trends | EB Special Topics.
- The basic research unit of the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) microdata is household. Cross-sectional data are available from several countries at five-year intervals from 1980 onwards. LIS data provide ample possibilities to compare income distribution and the effectiveness of income transfers in different countries.
- European Social Survey (ESS) is a biennial multi-country survey covering over 20 nations. The repeated core module includes questions on income and financial situation.
- The theme of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data in 2009 was social inequality. GESIS website provides more information on the programme and the possibility to access the international data. The ISSP data collection rounds in 1987 and 1999 also focused on social inequality, but Finland did not participate in the survey in those years.
- Scandinavian Welfare Survey 1972 provides historical data on well-being. It probed the standard of living and welfare in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in the 1970s.
Search FSD Database
The surveys listed on this page are only a small sample of all data related to poverty archived at the FSD. It is therefore worthwhile to search the FSD's data catalogue, also by keywords. See also the search instructions.
Links Related to Poverty
- Data of Statistics Finland:
- Data of the National Institute for Health and Welfare:
- European Income, Social Inclusion and Living Conditions survey (EU-SILC) and its predecessor European Community Household Panel (ECHP)
- Finnish Information Centre for Register Research (ReTki)
