Finns are slightly less optimistic about the future, according to the government-sponsored Citizens' Pulse survey.
While their optimism has declined since last spring, around 70 percent of respondents were still at least fairly optimistic about the future. That proportion was slightly higher last spring when the pulse survey was last carried out.
Since then, the percentage of people who said they were not optimistic about the future increased from 11 percent to 15 percent.
A report on the latest Citizens' Pulse survey (PDF in Finnish) was published on Monday.
Respondents in the latest survey were also slightly more concerned about their personal finances than they were last spring.
Now, just over a third said they were not at all worried about their finances, but one-fifth were either somewhat or very worried about money issues.
Opinions on racism
For the first time since its inception, the Citizens' Pulse survey brought up the issue of racism.
Roughly half of respondents said they agreed with the sentiment that racism is a prominent phenomenon in Finland, while around one-third disagreed.
The survey also found people's trust in a number of pillars of Finnish society had declined, compared to the measurement last spring. There was a decrease observed in respondents' trust in the police, the education system, healthcare, the justice system and the media.
Survey respondents' trust in the government increased compared to the spring, but in the long term, trust in government has declined significantly.
At the beginning of 2023, nearly 70 percent of pulse suruvey respondents said they trusted the government, while the ratio on that measure in the latest survey stood at 42 percent.
Regarding the government's work, an increasing proportion of respondents (32%) said they think the government should focus on improving the country's employment situation.
Issues surrounding healthcare were the most important to Finns, with more than 60 percent of respondents choosing healthcare as one of the most important matters that the government should focus on.
The Citizens' Pulse survey is carried out a few times a year at the request of the prime minister's office. The online survey was conducted by Statistics Finland in mid-September, and queried 1,143 Finnish citizens between the ages of 15 and 74.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.