Finland’s EU Membership cost falls to €55 per capita,net contribution drops sharply

According to the Ministry of Finance (Finland), the net cost of European Union membership for Finland last year averaged €55 per person. That figure is €95 less than in the previous year, when Finland’s net contribution per capita was €150.

Expressed as a share of gross national income (GNI), Finland’s net contribution fell from 0.30 % in the prior year to just 0.11 %.

The decline is explained by two key factors: Finland received more income from the EU budget last year, and at the same time its payments into the budget decreased.

While the European Commission no longer publishes country-by-country net payment positions, the Finnish Ministry of Finance has computed Finland’s net contribution using the Commission’s methodology.

A comparative graphic supplied by the Ministry shows that the largest net contributors per capita last year were Germany, Ireland and Sweden, while the largest net recipients per capita were Luxembourg, Latvia and Estonia.

Finland’s Figures in Detail

Finland’s net payment to the Union in the latest year stood at €309 million, down from €840 million the previous year. Payments from Finland’s national budget to the EU budget fell by €173 million to €2,023 million. Finland’s relative contribution was 1.67 % of payments compared to 1.72 % the year before.

Of Finland’s payments:

• €1,442 million was the GNI-based contribution

• €372 million was based on value added

• €90 million related to non-recycled plastic packaging waste

• In addition, Finland paid €142 million in redistribution payments granted to certain member states

On the revenue side, Finland’s receipts from the EU budget reached €1,631 million, an increase of €114 million year-on-year. In addition, Finland received €530 million via the EU Recovery Instrument.

Finland’s EU-budget revenues in 2024 were broken down as follows:

• Direct agricultural support and rural development: €797 million (49 %)

• Funding via the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon Europe): €280 million (17 %)

• Transport, Energy & Telecommunications Networks Facility (Connecting Europe): €83 million (5 %)

• Education, Youth & Sport Programme (Erasmus+): €69 million (4 %)

Finland received 1.33 % of the funding returned to EU Member States, up from 1.06 % the previous year.

Important Notes from the Ministry

The Ministry of Finance emphasises that these figures are a rough calculation, and do not capture all the benefits of EU membership—such as access to an open internal market or free movement of people and services.
The net-payment metric used is a so-called “balance calculation”, not a direct subtraction of what a member state receives versus what it contributes. It excludes the Union’s administrative costs, and on the revenue side only includes national budget contributions—not, for example, customs revenue paid directly to the Union. For example, last year Finland collected €184 million in customs duties, of which €138 million was passed directly to the Union and €46 million remained in the national budget.

Net payments vary between years for several reasons: budget changes in the EU framework may alter payments, and the Union’s income from non-national-membership-fee sources can fluctuate widely. Last year marked the fourth year of the Union’s 2021-2027 financial framework.

Since the 2001 accession period, Finland—being a relatively prosperous EU country compared to the average—has been a net contributor to the EU budget. The data table accompanying the report shows per-capita figures by country (donor countries are indicated with a minus sign). Finland’s net contribution fell significantly from €840 million to €309 million year-on-year. In 2023 Finland paid €2.02 billion into the EU and received €1.63 billion, resulting in a net deficit of €309 million.