MoniSuomi study collects health and wellbeing data of people born abroad – Survey produces important background information on the state of integration in Finland
The Centre of Expertise in Immigrant Integration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is involved in funding national research conducted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) that focuses on the health and wellbeing of people born abroad as well as services they use (MoniSuomi). The collection of data for the MoniSuomi survey, which aims to promote the equality of Finland’s immigrant population, began at the start of September.
The Centre of Expertise in Immigrant Integration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment maintains an integration monitoring system, which requires reliable and up-to-date information produced by a representative survey like MoniSuomi. It is not possible to monitor the success of integration at the phenomenon level solely based on register data, for example. The MoniSuomi data collected by THL provides generalisable information on immigrants’ perceived state of health, use of health services, participation, sense of belonging, insecurity and discrimination.
The data provides important background information for regular monitoring of the state of integration and planning and formulation of integration policies and decisions. The Centre of Expertise can make use of the research data in its Integration Indicators Database. The database is an open statistical database based on register and survey data used to monitor the state and development of integration in Finland. The indicators are currently divided into five themes: employment, education, wellbeing, participation and two-way integration.
MoniSuomi is part of the Healthy Finland Survey
The MoniSuomi study is part of THL’s extensive national study, Healthy Finland Survey, which began simultaneously with MoniSuomi in September. A sample of 18,600 people who were born and whose parents were born outside Finland will be selected from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for the MoniSuomi survey. The persons invited to the survey are 20–74 years old.
The study will be conducted in 20 languages and the questions are mainly the same as in the Healthy Finland Survey, which is aimed at the entire population. In that way, the data can be compared between different population groups. The data is primarily collected using an online questionnaire.
The results of the MoniSuomi study will be published on the websites of THL, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the kotoutuminen.fi online service in spring 2023. In addition to the Centre of Expertise in Immigrant Integration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Turku support and fund the MoniSuomi study.
Inquiries
Press release by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on 8 September 2022: MoniSuomi study collects health and wellbeing data from people born abroad to develop integration measures
National survey on health, well-being and service use among foreign-born population (MoniSuomi)
Healthy Finland Survey
Integration Indicators Database
Integration monitoring system
Results of previous studies
• FinSote (in Finnish)
• FinTerveys (in Finnish)
• Survey on Well-Being among Foreign Born Population (FinMonik)