The Kela Maternity Package

Kela’s maternity package, a Finnish innovation in well-being, was introduced 80 years ago. The Finnish maternity package has for several decades been the only one of its kind worldwide.

Finland introduced the maternity package in 1938 as a countermeasure to a high infant mortality rate. Originally given to low income parents only, today it’s provided to all parents who are expecting or adopting a child.

The box contains a wide range of essential and useful items, for example baby clothes and child care products. Altogether there are around 50 different items in the box.

We give away around 35.000 boxes a year.  So why do we do this? We believe that everybody deserves an equal start in life. And yes, the box can be used as a bed for the newborn baby.

This video shows a sped-up clip of a woman opening and unboxing a maternity package. She takes out every item and places them neatly on the floor around the box. In the end she takes her baby and sets the baby to sleep in the box. One minute and 21 seconds in length.