There are significant regional health differences that show clearly in the health-related benefits paid out by Finland's Social Insurance Institution, Kela.
New research data released by the agency on Tuesday show that individuals in the Uusimaa region of southern Finland received the lowest level of sickness benefit payments -- an estimated 615 euros per resident last year.
At the other end of the spectrum, during the same period, residents in Kainuu in eastern Finland received the equivalent of nearly 1,100 euros per resident, or almost twice the benefits paid in Uusimaa.
Altogether Kela spent a total of 4.3 billion euros on health-related benefits for a total of 730 euros per Finnish resident. The sum represents a slight decline over similar payouts in 2010, though the regional differences have remained unchanged since then.
The agency added that eastern and northern Finland also received more in other benefit payments than the rest of the country.
Dividing line dates back centuries
According to Kela, the benefit payments reflect a pattern of health inequalities in which residents of northern and eastern Finland get sick more frequently and more seriously than their peers in the west and south.
The head of the Kela research team, Jenni Blomgren, noted that the divide to some extent reflects the outcome of the Treaty of Nöteborg, a 1323 pact that regulated the borders between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic, an early predecessor to modern-day Russia. It put an end to the Swedish-Novgorod wars waged to control the Gulf of Finland.
"Regional health imbalances can be affected by factors such as regional differences in population age structure, socio-economic structures, employment, wealth, the service delivery system, social environment, lifestyle and even genetic factors," Blomgren noted.
The research data do not include compensation paid for student or occupational health care.