The situation has only worsened during the social and economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, Mikko Lievonen, co-author of the report at the Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, stated On YLE TV1 on Wednesday.
“During the crisis, there have been times when communication has focused on families: for example, people have been encouraged to stay home with their families.”
Although living alone does not automatically indicate that a person is disadvantaged in any way, single-person households are at a disadvantage compared to other sections of the population, based on statistics such as income, at-risk-of-poverty and social exclusion, and basic income support statistics. , and feelings of loneliness, according to the public broadcaster.
Lievonen reminded that no generalizations should be made.
โ1.2 million people live alone in Finland. The groups are very different and include the rich, the poor, the young, the old and even people in a relationship, he noted.
The Kalevi Sorsa Foundation emphasized that decision-makers should ensure that one-person households do not discriminate against others and made a couple of recommendations to strengthen the position of one-person households. According to it, the parliamentary committee should be set up to promote equality for single people and decisions on municipal housing production and land use should take into account the possibility that the number of one-person households will continue to grow.
โFamily policy is also important, but the point is not to forget the part of the population that lives alone,โ Lievonen said. “It is time for a societal change in attitudes, as living alone is no longer a rarity, but affects one in five Finns.”
Osmo KontulaEmeritus, a research professor at the Finnish Population Research Institute, told YLE that the relative housing costs of one-person households are typically very high. Likewise, the cost of different purchases falls on the shoulders of one person instead of several.
โThere are no lobby groups for single people in Finland. People living alone feel forgotten in the political sense, โhe said.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page