Kela finds stark gender gap in mental health support by age 28
Tuesday 22nd September 2026 on 05:01 in
Finland
One in three women born in Finland in 1997 had received a mental health-related disability benefit or rehabilitative psychotherapy by the age of 28, Yle reports. Among men in the same birth cohort, the figure was one in seven.
Kela researchers examined recipients of mental health-related sickness allowance, rehabilitative psychotherapy, and temporary or permanent disability pensions. The review covered the period from age 16 through the end of 2025.
At least one of the benefits or rehabilitative psychotherapy had been received by 33.9 percent of women and 15.3 percent of men.
More than a quarter of the women had received mental health-related sickness allowance, compared with more than one in ten men. Rehabilitative psychotherapy had been received by 15.9 percent of women and 3.6 percent of men.
“It is particularly notable how common the use of rehabilitative psychotherapy was in the lives of young women. At the same time, the large difference compared with men raises questions,” Kela research director Miika Vuori said in a statement.
Temporary or permanent disability pensions were almost equally common among the two groups. They had been received by 3.5 percent of women and 3.4 percent of men.
There were differences in the diagnoses underlying the pensions. A diagnosis related to intellectual disability or a neurodevelopmental condition was included in the grounds for the pension for 62 percent of men, compared with 37 percent of women.
Kela said that, in registers concerning disability pensions for young people, mental health grounds are a broad category that also includes diagnoses related to neurodevelopmental conditions and intellectual disability.
The review included everyone born in Finland in 1997 who was alive when the follow-up began. This amounted to more than 28,000 women and more than 29,000 men.
Kela said the review is believed to be the first to show how many people from a single birth cohort in Finland received these benefits or rehabilitative psychotherapy during adolescence and early adulthood.