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Wed, 26 Mar, 2014 12:28:32 AM FTimes - Xinhua Report, March 26  A picture shows a coin of one Euro and banknotes of 10, 20 and 50 Euros. Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. Nearly one million Finns are facing risks of poverty or marginalization, showed a survey carried out by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE on Tuesday.
In the survey, 48 welfare officials and church leaders as well as charity and social workers from several Finnish cities were interviewed, said the report.
A vast majority of them believed that poverty is gaining ground and the poor Finns are increasingly difficult to extricate themselves from the predicament.
Nearly 20 percent of the residents in Tampere, a major city in southern Finland, were low income earners in 2012 and more than 130,000 children are presently at the edge of poverty.
According to the Evangelical Free Church of Finland, the city has failed to curb the rising unemployment.
File picture, A woman searching job on the website of Finnish Unemployment Office. Photo – Lehtikuva. Poverty is not measured only in money, but also in terms of the social participation and access to services provided by municipalities, said the Helsinki based Children of the Station Finland.
The reasons behind increasing poverty and marginalization were particularly attributed by the respondents to unemployment, followed by mental problems and substance abuse.
The long term unemployment and youth unemployment are the prominent problems, which might cause stress and anxiety, the religious community in Vantaa indicated.
Drug problems and mental disorders could be core factors leading to poverty and marginalization in Finland, pointed out the Finnish Blue Ribbon, a charity foundation, adding that more than one million Finns are affected by drug-related problems.
A number of 45 out of 48 respondents considered that poverty will get worse this year, due to continuous economic recession, resulting in the rise of consumer prices, widening income gap and cutting down on social services by municipalities.
The respondents called for the Finnish government to take effective measures to promote employment, secure basic income and narrow the income gap.
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