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Finland PUBLIC WELFARE
In the late 1980s, Finland had one of the world's most
advanced welfare systems, one that guaranteed decent
living
conditions for all Finns. Created almost entirely during
the
first three decades after World War II, the system was an
outgrowth of the traditional Nordic belief that the state
was not
inherently hostile to the well-being of its citizens, but
could
intervene benevolently on their behalf. According to some
social
historians, the basis of this belief was a relatively
benign
history that had allowed the gradual emergence of a free
and
independent peasantry in the Nordic countries and had
curtailed
the dominance of the nobility and the subsequent formation
of a
powerful right wing. Finland's history has been harsher
than the
histories of the other Nordic countries, but not harsh
enough to
bar the country from following their path of social
development.
Data as of December 1988
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