Services to elderly people

In the Nordic countries, most older people live in ordinary housing. Only small percentages of elderly people live in specially adapted housing, which can be divided into the following categories:

• Nursing homes, and homes for the long-term ill/old people’s homes
• Serviced flats, collective housing and housing in which special care is provided

In Finland, elderly people may also, to a varying extent, be offered long-term medical treatment in hospital wards, often at health centres. Institutional long-term care is only considered when medically justified. 

In the Nordic countries, some nursing homes have special wards to which elderly people who live on their own can be admitted on a short-term basis. All countries also provide home help for elderly people. The extent of home help provided is determined based on the individual’s need and may vary from a few hours per month to several hours per day. It is administered by local authorities and provided by local-authority or privately employed staff.

The type of accommodation provided to elderly people varies among the Nordic countries, making it difficult to collect statistics. 

However, it is possible to collect and compare statistics on how many people use the different types of accommodation available in a Nordic country. 

In the three graphs below the rate of people living in institutions or serviced housing is shown. Each graph presents a different age group.

Among people aged 65 to 74 years, less than 3 per cent of the population live in institutions or serviced housing for the elderly. However, the rate increases as people get older.

For people in the age group of 80 years and older, the rate is the highest.

It is noticeable that Norway has the highest rate of elderly people living in institutions and serviced housing in all three graphs, whereas Denmark and Sweden have the lowest. It is also noteworthy that the rate of the population living in institutions or serviced housing, especially for the age group of 80 years and older, has been declining in recent years in all the Nordic countries.

While the services provided as home help for elderly people in many cases are the same, the statistical data concerning home help in the Nordic countries are not directly comparable due to differences in the calculation methods. 

The data for Denmark, Norway and Sweden are snapshots, while the data from Finland and Iceland consists of information on how many people received home help during the year.

However, the statistic gives an overall illustration of the rate of elderly people who receive home help. The three graphs below present this topic for different age groups.

Iceland has the highest level of people aged 65 to 74 years receiving home help, with 7 per cent. The lowest rates are in Finland and Sweden, with 2-2.5 per cent of this age group receiving home help.

Iceland also has a considerably higher rate of people aged 75 to 79 years receiving home help compared to other Nordic countries, with around 20 per cent. The lowest rate is in Norway with just 5 per cent. In Sweden and Finland, the rates are slightly above 5 per cent. Compared to the other countries, Denmark has shown a decreasing rate during the reported years.

The highest rate of people receiving home in all Nordic countries is among those aged 80 years or older. The level is by far the highest in Iceland, with a continued rate of just under 50 per cent of this age group.

Denmark is second, though the rate of this age group receiving home help has fallen from 38 per cent to just over 25 per cent over a period of 10 years.

In Sweden and Finland, the rate of this age group receiving home help has been somewhat constant for the reported years, whereas the rate in Norway, which is currently the lowest, has declined by almost 10 percentage points during the period of reported data.

In the Nordic countries, local authorities or private companies provide support schemes and activation measures for pensioners. The range of services and activities varies between countries and local authorities, and no comparable statistics are available on the extent of these activities.

Support schemes aim to enable elderly people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. These schemes may encompass meal deliveries, telephone security chains, home-visiting schemes, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, hairdressing, pedicure, gardening and snow-clearing. Washing and clothes-mending schemes are also available. There are no centrally agreed policies regarding payment, but fees are usually charged for meals, pedicures and gardening. Some of the activities may be in special centres for elderly people.

A transport service scheme is available for elderly or disabled people who are unable to use public transport or get about on their own.