Benefits and services available from Kela
Kela provides basic social security for people living in Finland at every stage of their lives. Kela’s customers include all those who are covered by the Finnish social security system, whether they live in Finland or abroad. Kela’s core mission is to secure the livelihood and promote the health of the entire population in addition to supporting the capacity of individuals to care for themselves in different life situations.
Kela provides financial assistance, for example, to families with children, students, people of working age, and pensioners. Kela can also provide support in the event of illness, disability or functional impairment.
We develop our services to benefit our customers
A positive customer experience is at the core of Kela’s strategy. We strive to provide good customer service and to develop our services. We also consistently work to improve our customer insight.
Our customers need different services and service channels at different stages of their lives. Kela’s service channels are used not only by individual customers but also by partner organisations and employers who need to interact with Kela in matters related to their employees’ social security.
Kela at your service – 2025 in numbers
Kela is developing its services to make them even more customer-oriented and will increasingly make use of digitalisation and automation to be able to provide a more streamlined experience for customers.
In 2025, 90 million visits were made to Kela’s website, while the OmaKela e-service saw 47.1 million visits from signed in customers. Altogether 84% of all applications Kela received were submitted online. In recent years, the number of customer contacts by mail, phone and at service points has seen a moderate decrease, while Kela’s online services have continued to steadily grow in popularity.
Kela has seen a significant decline in the use of paper mail in recent years. Decision notices and letters have long been available in OmaKela, and by the end of 2025 more than 1.5 million Kela customers had opted out of paper mail. In 2025, Kela sent approximately 6.9 million letters as paper mail while 9 million letters were delivered electronically.
Use of different customer service channels in 2025
Customers can currently access Kela’s services online, by phone and at service points in over 200 municipalities. Some service points with a Kela presence are operated jointly with other authorities. At many joint service points, customer service is available over a remote connection. Customers can get one-on-one advice online in OmaKela via the chat or by using the message function. The chat is currently only available in Finnish. Kela also has a 24/7 chatbot, but it is not available in English. Additionally, customers can get general advice through our social media on Facebook, Instagram and Jodel.
In 2025, there were more than 47 million logins to OmaKela, while Kela’s phone service fielded 2 million calls and customers visited Kela service points 500,000 times. Customers visited joint service points operated by public authorities 44,000 times to access Kela’s services, and our remote service saw 20,000 customer interactions.
Benefits paid by Kela in 2025
Kela’s benefit expenditure amounted to EUR 17.5 billion in 2025, which translates into an increase of 1.1% compared with 2024.
| Type of Kela benefit | 2025, EUR million | 2024, EUR million | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pension benefits | 2,620.2 | 2,677.1 | -2.1 |
| Disability benefits | 680.5 | 663.4 | 2.6 |
| Health insurance benefits | 5,461.7 | 5,219.1 | 4.6 |
| Rehabilitation * | 740.0 | 774.6 | -4.5 |
| Unemployment benefits | 2,071.1 | 1,912.6 | 8.3 |
| Benefits for families with children ** | 1,807.6 | 1,831.4 | -1.3 |
| Benefits for students | 1,014.5 | 832.1 | 21.9 |
| Housing allowance for pensioners | 653.0 | 685.3 | -4.7 |
| General housing allowance | 1,228.0 | 1,676.9 | -26.8 |
| Basic social assistance | 1,001.1 | 824.7 | 21.4 |
| Student health services | 90.7 | 88.7 | 2.3 |
| Other benefits | 87.5 | 82.1 | 6.6 |
| Total expenditure | 17,455.8 | 17,268.0 | 1.1 |
* Includes development
** Daily allowances for parents are included under health insurance benefits.
More information about Kela's operations in 2025 is available in the annual report. It will be published on Kela's website in May 2026.
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Kela’s annual reports
The annual reports present key data on Kela’s finances and operational outcomes. The reports also describe how Kela’s operations support its strategic objectives.