The fourth quarter of 2025 is the tenth consecutive quarter in which more people received social assistance than in the same quarter a year earlier. The number of people receiving social assistance is lower than the ten-year average of 424.6 thousand.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of people receiving general social assistance was higher in all age categories than a year earlier. The increase is strongest among young people up to 27 years old, at 3.7 percent (42 thousand people receiving social assistance). This is the twelfth consecutive quarter that the number of young people receiving social assistance has increased. At the end of 2023, this increase was strongest at 9.2 percent, after which the increase declined.
Among 27- to 45-year-olds, the number of people receiving social assistance increased by 1.4 percent to 139 thousand. Among people between 45 years and the state pension age, this increased by 0.4 percent to 229 thousand.
At the end of December 2025, 229 thousand women and 181 thousand men received general social assistance. For women, this is 1.7 thousand (0.8 percent) more than in December 2024. For men, this is 2.6 thousand (1.4 percent) more. The number of women receiving social assistance was relatively stable for one and a half years and has been increasing for three quarters. The number of men receiving social assistance has increased for the eleventh consecutive quarter.
In the third quarter of 2025, 2.8 percent (0.6 thousand) more people entered general social assistance than a year earlier. The number of people leaving social assistance is 4.0 percent higher (0.8 thousand). In total, there were 22.1 thousand entrants and 21.2 thousand leavers in the third quarter. This is the third year in a row that more people enter than leave social assistance.
People leaving social assistance because they reached the state pension age are not included in the figures. In the third quarter of 2025, this was 1.7 thousand people. The inflow and outflow figures for the fourth quarter of 2025 are not yet available.
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