People in Finland may live well into their 80s, but the number of years they can expect to spend in good health and functioning at full capacity is considerably lower, according to a new study.
For the first time, researchers have developed population-wide Finnish reference values that combine life expectancy with people’s ability to work, manage household responsibilities and perform other everyday activities.
The research, published in Social Science & Medicine, could provide a broader way to measure how health affects individuals and society.
Traditional life expectancy measures how many years a person is expected to live. However, it does not show how many of those years are likely to be spent in good enough health to work or participate fully in everyday life.
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland wanted to address this gap by examining what they call productivity-adjusted life expectancy, or PALE.
The study was based on a survey conducted in summer 2024 involving 3,644 Finnish adults between the ages of 20 and 79. The participants were selected to represent Finland’s adult population in terms of geography and demographic characteristics.
Researchers created an index measuring people’s ability to function and participate in productive activities. Scores ranged from zero to one, with one representing full functioning and work ability and zero representing a complete inability to perform work or everyday activities.
For example, a score of 0.80 means a person is functioning at about 80% of full capacity on average because of illnesses or other health conditions.
Across Finnish adults, the average score was 0.77. Men averaged 0.78, while women averaged 0.76.
Importantly, the researchers did not define productivity simply as having a paid job.
Health economic studies often focus heavily on how illness affects employment and wages. The new measure also considers unpaid activities such as housework, caregiving and other everyday responsibilities.
These activities may not appear in traditional economic measures such as gross domestic product, but they are essential to families, communities and society.
The researchers then combined information about functional ability with life expectancy.
A 20-year-old Finnish man can currently expect to live to around age 80, while a 20-year-old Finnish woman can expect to reach approximately 85.
However, the researchers calculated productivity-adjusted life expectancy at just 42.9 remaining years for men and 46.1 years for women.
These figures should not be interpreted as meaning that people become completely unhealthy or unproductive after those years. Instead, PALE combines periods of full functioning with periods when illness or health problems reduce a person’s ability to work or carry out daily activities. Partial reductions in functioning accumulate over a lifetime, resulting in a lower adjusted figure.
The researchers hope the measure will provide governments and health experts with a better understanding of the wider effects of disease.
It could help estimate how particular illnesses affect people’s ability to participate in society, compare health-related losses among different population groups and evaluate whether health and welfare policies are improving people’s lives.
Finland’s results also contribute to an international effort to create standardized measurements that can be compared between countries. Similar population reference values have already been developed in Australia and Canada.
By looking beyond simply how long people survive, the researchers hope the new approach can provide a clearer picture of how many years people are able to live, work, care for others and participate fully in everyday life.
