Rural policy has prioritised livelihoods and economic activities over the development of services
Finnish rural policy lacks interest in rural living, says Professor of Human Geography and Regional Research Methods Olli Lehtonen. According to Lehtonen, the development of livelihoods has played a key role in rural policy in recent decades, and service development has also been given a lower priority in various rural development programmes.
"For example, the small school subsidy in Finland was abolished in 2006, which I think to some extent reflects the shift in rural policy towards the development of livelihoods."
Lehtonen is currently leading the MAAIKKUNA research project, which focuses on the rural residential areas of Finland. The study examines whether there are rural areas in Finland that meet people’s housing and residential needs, and how well they do so.
"With the help of spatial data, we aim to create a comprehensive overall picture of the situation in Finnish rural areas, and how well it would support rural living."
According to rural barometers, many Finns could consider living in rural areas. At the same time, however, rural areas lack essential services for everyday life.
"Remote work enabled by the digital leap forward, for example, means that rural living has a lot of potential if the supporting services and infrastructure were available."
Rural living indices indicate the state of rural living in Finland
The study includes comprehensive and diverse data on various services in rural areas, such as sports facilities and service points. In the study, Finland has been divided into 16,000 squares of 25 square kilometres.
"Processing the data requires a huge amount of computing power, and this is why we use the supercomputers of the CSC (IT Center for Science) data centre in Kajaani. They allow us to calculate accessibility indices for the whole of Finland from the data, for example, or how accessible jobs are for the population living in the area."
Based on diverse research data, indices of rural living are formed, which show what kind of rural living is left in Finland and how well it meets the needs of the residents.
"We already know that rural areas are becoming strongly polarised. In addition, some rural areas are more suitable for use by recreational residents, as services and other functions supporting housing are weak or non-existent."
More information on the impacts of school closures
As part of the MAAIKKUNA project, data is collected that makes it possible to examine how the closure of a school affects the development of the region's infrastructure and, more generally, economic activity.
"We also aim to calculate how the closure of a school affects the local tax revenues. Until now, such broader and more comprehensive impact assessments have been missing from school network studies."
There has been very little impact assessment of school closures at the national and international level. In their previous research, Lehtonen has examined how the closure of schools affects demographic development.
"The closures have had a pretty clear impact. When a school is closed, the demographic trend becomes more negative."
The savings brought about by school closures are affected by many factors, such as the development of the number of pupils, transport costs and facility solutions.
"Research data shows that closures do not always result in savings. Of course, there are situations where closures have been necessary when there are simply no more children. However, I claim that there have also been school closures that have not brought savings."
Tools for better regional policy
The MAAIKKUNA study also includes an impact assessment of the development opportunities of rural housing and its development potential.
"Rural policy in Finland needs to be rethought, as its funding is likely to decrease in the future. In decision-making, society needs impact data that can be used to utilise limited resources more efficiently."
According to Lehtonen, it is important to increase the amount of impact data on regional policy measures. While working at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, Lehtonen was involved in developing an allocation model that helps the authorities grant rural development funding according to the needs of the regions.
"Previously, regional differences and needs could not be effectively incorporated into decisions on the allocation of rural development funds, which may have maintained those differences. In the model we have developed, the need for development is included as one of the criteria for allocating funding, which may enable the reduction of regional differences."
Finnish society has a great need for more place-based development, and academic research has a lot to offer in this respect.
"I believe that in ten years’ time, we will be able to make better regional policy and use public funds more efficiently when dialogue between decision-makers, policy preparers and researchers is increased."
Lehtonen also calls for long-term thinking in regional development and a deeper understanding of the future vision of an individual municipality or location.
"This view is surprisingly often missing in rural areas. Many municipalities do not have a rural strategy, and the action plans of municipal strategies may be outdated."
Olli Lehtonen
Professor of Human Geography and Regional Research Methods, 1 April 2026–
- PhD, University of Eastern Finland, 2015
- MSc, University of Eastern Finland, 2007
- Title of Docent in economic geography, especially geospatial research, University of Eastern Finland, 2017
Key roles and achievements
- Assistant Professor, University of Eastern Finland, 4/2022–3/2026
- Senior scientist, Natural Resource Institute Finland, 9/2014–12/2021
- University lecturer of Geoinformatics, University of Eastern Finland, 9/2013–8/2014
- Excellent Teaching Practitioner Award 2023, University of Eastern Finland
