Since it was established in 1964, the Nordic Social-Statistical Committee (NOSOSCO) has prepared social statistics for the Nordic countries with a view to making comparisons between the countries.

Through its work, the committee has achieved results which now form a reasonable basis for comparison of expenditure and rules for cash benefits and services for children and families, for the elderly and disabled, and for unemployment and illness.

Chapter 1 highlights the most significant changes in social and financial policy since the last edition of this publication. Chapter 2 provides an account of the structure of the report, while Chapter 3 lists demographic and income conditions. Cash benefits and services for families and children are treated in Chapter 4, whereas Chapters 5 and 6 describe benefits in the event of unemployment and illness, respectively. Chapter 7 concerns benefits for the elderly, disabled and survivors, whereas housing benefits for families and pensioners are described in Chapter 8. Social benefits not covered by the rules and regulations described in the previous chapters are featured in Chapter 9. Chapter 10 provides a survey of the scope and financing of the total social expenditure.

Each Chapter provides a description of the number of beneficiaries as well as of the size of the benefits. In addition, each chapter contains a survey of the total social expenditure in the respective areas.