Monitoring and promotion

Democracy indicators

Democracy indicators are used for monitoring the state and development of Finnish democracy. The Ministry of Justice has provided funding for the collection of data that the democracy indicators are based on, carried out in connection with parliamentary elections. The Ministry has also funded indicator-related reporting. The Finnish Social Science Data Archive is responsible for maintaining and developing the indicators, which are published in the Finnish Election Study Portal.

Finnish Election Study Portal: Democracy Indicators

Democracy Award

The Democracy Award is an award of EUR 10,000 granted by the Ministry of Justice to democracy-promoting actors. The award is handed out roughly every other year. The purpose of the Democracy Award is to thank civil society actors, raise awareness of civil society and find good practices for supporting active citizenship.

In 2018, the Ministry of Justice handed out the Democracy Award on the National Democracy Day, 9 October, together with the Ministry of Education and Culture, the State Youth Council, the Finnish National Agency for Education, the Human Rights Centre and the Association for Teachers of History and Social Studies in Finland (HYOL ry). The theme of the award was democracy and human rights education.

Democracy Award 2018: rules and criteria (available only in Finnish)

Past themes of the Democracy Award

2018: Democracy and human rights education 

2017: Partnership

2014: Promotion of local democracy

2012: Strengthening the participation opportunities of children and young people

2011: Voluntary and civic activities

Contact information

Niklas Wilhelmsson, Ministerial Adviser 
Ministry of Justice, Department for Democracy and Public Law, Democracy and Elections civic activity  participatory rights  democracy policy  civic society  0295150348  


Maria Wakeham-Hartonen, Senior Specialist 
Ministry of Justice, Department for Democracy and Public Law, Democracy and Elections Advisory Board on Civil Society Policy (KANE)  civic activity  civic society  sustainable development  democracy policy  0295150416