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One quarter of people with disabilities in Finland at risk of poverty, marginalisation

Low income and under-employment are more common among people with disabilities compared to the rest of the population, according to a Statistics Finland report.

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The most common functional limitations were found among the elderly, with almost 55 percent of those over 84 experiencing severe functional limitations. Image: Eleni Paspatis / Yle
Yle News

One quarter of people with functional disabilities in Finland are at risk of poverty or marginalization, according to data published by Statistics Finland on Friday.

This ratio amounts to about 147,000 people.

The number-crunching agency noted that the risk is caused by the low income levels of the majority of people with disabilities.

A survey of the data found that low income, under-employment and severe material and social deprivation are more common among people with functional disabilities than the rest of the population.

A total of about 580,000 people in Finland over the age of 16 have severe activity limitations, according to the agency.

Activity limitations are measured with an indicator consisting of six basic activities: vision, hearing, walking and climbing steps, remembering and concentrating, self-care and communicating in one's own native language.

When a person experiences a lot of difficulties in any of the six basic functions, or cannot function at all in at least one of them, the person is considered to have a disability.

Activity limitations were found to be most common among the elderly, as they especially experienced difficulties with walking or climbing stairs.

Among younger people, the most common activity limitation was related to remembering or concentrating.

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