The incidence of depression-induced sickness daily allowance and
disability pensions has nearly doubled since the early 1990s.
During the last two years, however, the trend has taken a
downward turn.
In 2009 the number of sickness daily allowance periods and days due
to depression was lower than the year before. In 2009 the number of
sickness daily allowance days was 2.4 million, while two years
earlier a total of 2.5 million working days were missed due to
depression.
The partial sickness allowance, designed to make it easier for depression rehabilitation clients to return to work, was more popular in 2009 than before.
A total of 4,250 Finns took disability pension due to depression in 2009. Out of these, 3,880 persons took disability pension under the earnings-related pension scheme. In 2008, the total number of new disability pensions was 4,480.
At the end of 2009, a total of around 38,000 new disability
pensions due to depression were granted accounting for 14 per cent
of all disability pensions. If the incidence of depression-induced
disability pensions could be halved, the retirement age would
increase with nearly three years.
On average, persons taking depression-induced disability pensions
are two years younger than persons taking disability pension for
other reasons. In 2008, the average age of persons taking
disability pension due to depression was 49 years according to the
statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. In recent years
women have taken around 60 per cent of all the depression-induced
disability pensions.
In 2009, the expenditure for depression-induced disability pensions
was around EUR 519 million while the expenditure for sickness daily
allowances was EUR 114 million.