Wellbeing services counties of Finland

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Wellbeing services counties

The wellbeing services counties (Finnish: hyvinvointialue, Swedish: välfärdsområde, Northern Sami: buresveadjinguovlu, Inari Sami: pyereestvaijeemkuávlu, Skolt Sami: pueʹrrvââjjamvuʹvdd)[1] are responsible for organising health, social and emergency services in Finland. There are 21 wellbeing services counties and the county division is mainly based on the region division.[2] The public authorities are separate from the municipalities and from the central government.

The wellbeing services counties are self-governing. They do not have the right to levy taxes and their funding is based on central government funding. The central government allocates different amounts of funding to the different wellbeing services counties, depending on the structure of their population.[2]

A wellbeing services county may also perform functions in its territory that support its statutory functions, such as international activities and the protection of the mutual interests of the counties. It may carry on a low-risk business in its territory or in conjunction with another county that supports the performance of its statutory functions. The counties may carry out their functions jointly under an agreement. The forms of cooperation are a joint institution, a joint office, an agreement on the performance of official duties and a welfare consortium. The business of a consortium can only be the provision of support services. Organisational responsibility cannot be delegated to a consortium.[3]

  1. ^ "Frontpage". Soteuudistus. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  2. ^ a b "Wellbeing services counties will be responsible for organising health, social and rescue services on 1 January 2023". Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Archived from the original on 2023-09-07. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :03 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).