The Citizens' Pulse surveys, conducted by the Prime Minister's Office and Statistics Finland, examine Finnish views on current issues. The surveys explore views on the activity and communication of authorities, compliance with regulations, future expectations, and trust, as well as the respondents' own state of mind, health and well-being, livelihood, and concerns relating to everyday life. Central themes of the surveys include, for instance, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Most questions are repeated in each survey. The group of respondents changes for each round. Data were first collected in the beginning of April 2020. The data archived at FSD have been collected from the beginning of 2021 onwards.
The Citizens' Pulse surveys examine Finns' opinions on current issues, the activities of public authorities, and respondents' state of mind and concerns. The data include questions on, for example, democracy, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, physical activity, and respondents' views on societal issues that the Government should pay attention to.
This collection round surveyed the respondents' views on well-being, state of mind and trust. The questions covered satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, perceptions of the fairness of society, trust in other people, and concerns about one's own livelihood. The next set of questions focused on trust in key societal institutions and the respondents' sense of safety. Questions relating to safety examined, among other things, the impacts of Finland's NATO membership and concerns arising from the war in Ukraine. In addition, the survey explored recycling and waste sorting behaviour and the factors influencing it. The survey also examined respondents' views on racism, including their observations of racist behaviour and their assessments of the adequacy of anti-racist measures. The section on physical activity and mobility examined respondents' level of physical activity in relation to current recommendations and changes in exercise behaviour.
Background variables include the response language, respondent's gender, age group, region of residence, level of education, and information on household composition, financial situation, and type of housing.
The sample for the first collection round of 2026 was formed of target persons aged 15 to 74 living in mainland Finland who had responded to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey (rounds 3 and 5) between 1 February and 6 April 2026. The sample size was 4,464 persons for whom a current telephone number meeting the survey criteria was available.
The persons included in the survey sample had first responded to the Labour Force Survey and subsequently consented to participate in an additional study. The sample for the Labour Force Survey is drawn as a stratified random sample from Statistics Finland's population database, which is based on the Finnish Population Information System. The surveys are conducted as telephone and web-based data collections in which the same person is interviewed two to five times.
An invitation to participate in the study and a personal direct link to the web questionnaire were sent to the respondents by text message. The text message also contained a link to the Statistics Finland data collection webpage, where participants were informed about, for instance, data protection. The data collection page also included a link to the privacy notice. Reminder messages were sent to those who had not yet responded two days after the initial invitation and on the morning of the final day of data collection. The survey was conducted in Finnish, Swedish and English.