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Finland: defi.fi and the 112 Suomi app
The best-organised defibrillator register in the Baltic Sea region: a national database run by the heart association with the resuscitation council and the Red Cross, feeding device locations to the emergency services app.
CPR in sixty seconds
- Unresponsive and not breathing normally? Gasping is not breathing. Treat it as a cardiac arrest.
- Call 112 (113 in Norway). Speaker on, phone on the floor. Stay on the line — the dispatcher will coach you.
- Push hard and fast in the centre of the chest: 5–6 cm in an adult, 100–120 per minute, letting the chest come all the way back up.
- Send somebody else for a defibrillator. Do not go yourself unless it is seconds away. Keep compressing.
- Turn the device on and do what it says. It decides whether to shock. After a shock, go straight back to compressions.
This is a reference written for bystanders, not a diagnosis, a training course or medical advice. It cannot tell you what is wrong with a particular person, and it does not replace the dispatcher on the other end of an emergency call — they can see what is near you and they will talk you through it. If you are worried about your own heart, or about a symptom, that is a conversation with a clinician rather than a page on a website.
112 and the app that sends your position
Emergency calls in Finland go to Hätäkeskuslaitos, the Emergency Response Centre Agency, which handles calls for the ambulance service, rescue services, police and social services from six centres. Prehospital emergency care itself is run by the wellbeing services counties. The agency publishes the 112 Suomi application, which transmits the caller's position automatically and shows nearby defibrillators — the second of those functions is fed from the national register, which is the piece other countries in the region do not have.
defi.fi, and who keeps it
The national defibrillator register lives at defi.fi. It is administered by the Finnish Heart Association, Sydänliitto, together with the Finnish Resuscitation Council and the Finnish Red Cross, with a working group that includes the university hospital district HUS, the Emergency Response Centre Agency and device importers. On the association's own figures the service held over 12,000 registered defibrillators as of March 2026. The site is in Finnish with Swedish and English available, anyone can search it, and anyone who owns a device can add it.
Registration is voluntary, which is the weak point
Nobody is obliged to register a defibrillator in Finland: it is the device owner's own decision and the operator says so plainly. That makes the register's coverage a direct function of how many owners bother, and it makes maintaining the entry — opening hours, access, the cabinet's exact location, the contact person — an act of goodwill rather than compliance. If you own a device in Finland and it is not on defi.fi, that is the single highest-value ten minutes available to you.
The clinical guidance behind everything
Finland has an unusually accessible national guideline system: Käypä hoito publishes the resuscitation guideline (Elvytys) in full, in public, aligned with the European Resuscitation Council. It is the reference behind what Finnish dispatchers say on the phone and what Finnish courses teach, and it is worth reading if you want the source rather than a summary of it.
If you are the one standing there
Call 112, ideally through the 112 Suomi app so your position goes automatically. Speaker on, phone on the floor, start compressions. Ask about a defibrillator — in Finland there is a real chance the dispatcher can name one, and in a station, shopping centre, gym, school or workplace the odds of one being within a few hundred metres are good. Send a second person for it. If you are in the countryside or on a lake, coordinates are the thing that matters most.
| Item | How it works |
|---|---|
| Emergency number | 112 |
| Call centre | Hätäkeskuslaitos (Emergency Response Centre Agency) |
| Prehospital care | Wellbeing services counties |
| National AED register | defi.fi — over 12 000 devices, March 2026 |
| Register operator | Sydänliitto with the Finnish Resuscitation Council and Finnish Red Cross |
| Register in the app | Device locations shown in 112 Suomi |
| Registration | Voluntary, free, owner's responsibility |
| National guideline | Käypä hoito: Elvytys |
Sources: defi.fi — the Finnish defibrillator register · Sydänliitto on the defi.fi service · Hätäkeskuslaitos (112.fi) · Käypä hoito national guideline: Elvytys · Suomen Elvytysneuvosto (Finnish Resuscitation Council) · Finnish Red Cross (Suomen Punainen Risti) · checked 2026-09-08
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find the nearest defibrillator in Finland?
Search defi.fi, or use the 112 Suomi app, which shows registered devices as well as transmitting your position when you call. In an emergency, call first and ask the dispatcher.
How do I add my defibrillator to defi.fi?
Register it yourself on the service — it is free and it is the owner's responsibility, since registration is voluntary in Finland. Keep the location description, access details and opening hours up to date afterwards.
Who runs the Finnish defibrillator register?
Sydänliitto, the Finnish Heart Association, administers defi.fi together with the Finnish Resuscitation Council and the Finnish Red Cross, with a working group including HUS, the Emergency Response Centre Agency and importers.
Country by country
Estonia: 112, kiirabi and no national AED register
One number for everything, a dispatch centre that coaches CPR down the phone, and defibrillators scattered by municipalities, employers and shops with no single public list. What that means if you are the one calling.
Latvia: NMPD, 112 and a patchwork of devices
The state emergency medical service answers the medical side of 112 and publishes guidance for defibrillator owners, but there is no single public register. Where devices have actually appeared, and what to do with yours.
Lithuania: a legal requirement and a service database
The one country in the region where the law names the venues that must have a defibrillator. How the 112 centre and the emergency medical service work together, and how the device database reaches the dispatcher.
Sweden: a register, a research base and SMS lifesavers
A national defibrillator register run by the resuscitation council, a quality register that has published cardiac-arrest outcomes for decades, and a volunteer scheme that grew out of the research.
Norway: 113, NAKOS and the register that is free
The medical emergency number is 113, not 112. The national defibrillator register is run by a state competence centre and costs nothing — which matters, because commercial look-alikes have been invoicing device owners.
Everything on this subject
Before the emergency, there is a long quiet stretch
Blood pressure, resting heart rate, movement and sleep are the part of this you can act on for years beforehand. TempoLife keeps them in one place, free to start.