Yle News asked Taloustutkimus to carry out a survey on how much time and money Finns spend on their parents' care. About a thousand people responded to the poll.
Under a fifth of respondents said they took responsibility for the parents’ care. Understandably, those who did take responsibility were aged between 50 and 64 years of age. One third of them said that the average amount of time they spent tending to their parents’ care was between 10 and 20 hours per month.
Which regards to cash expenditure, most respondents said they use less than a hundred euros a month towards aged care. With those over 50 years old, one in every six said they spent more than that, but even their investment was capped at a couple of hundred euros, at most.
Significant differences were few and far between despite differences in income, the survey revealed.
Aged care seen as a societal responsibility
The low figures are in line with previous reports. University of Helsinki Researcher Antti Tanskanen has studied the relationship between the baby boomer generation and their offspring. According to Tanskanen, parents may gain support with practical chores, but the giving of financial aid is rare.
“Parents do not necessarily want to receive financial aid from their children, or they don’t feel that it’s necessary,” Tanskanen says.
The majority of studies show that both generations are of the opinion that taking care of the elderly is primarily a social function.
“In particular, care and financial support is strongly perceived as a societal responsibility, but practical assistance is seen as being both a familial and societal obligation,” Tanskanen adds.
Researcher: Shared responsibility leads to broader contact
From time to time, social debate focuses on whether or not aged care should primarily be the responsibility of the children of the person in question. According to the researcher, forcing the requirement could do more harm than good.
“I think that there shouldn’t be an obligation. The strength of the Nordic welfare model is precisely the fact that it frees up a bigger group to help out relatives on a voluntary basis,” Tanskanen claims.
When society provides effective nursing services for older people in their everyday lives, according to Tanskanen, those in need of help have access to a broader range of helpers. In his opinion, the situation is different in the south of Europe where weak public services force offspring to care for their aging parents.
“In these countries, there’s a small group who really take care of their parents, intensively, every day. In the Nordic countries there’s a wider group to care for parents or have contact with them, albeit less frequently,” Tanskanen says.
- The Yle commissioned Taloustutkimus survey mapped the responses of 1,003 15 to 79-year-old Finns.
- The survey asked, "How much time do you spend on your parents' care?" and "How much money do you spend on your parents’ care?"