Population and society

Finland in Figures is an information package about Finland and Finns. 

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Elections

Development of population, 1750-2022

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Population structure on 31 December

  1900 1950 2000 2020 2021 2022
Population, thousand
Total 2 656 4 030 5 181 5 534 5 548 5 564
Males 1 311 1 926 2 529 2 734 2 743 2 753
Females 1 345 2 104 2 652 2 800 2 805 2 810
Age, %  
0–14 35,1 30,0 18,1 15,6 15,4 15,1
15–64 59,6 63,4 66,9 61,7 61,6 61,6
65–84 5,2 6,4 13,5 19,9 20,2 20,4
85– 0,1 0,2 1,5 2,8 2,8 2,9
Average age, years  
Males 26,3 28,6 37,7 42,1 42,3 42,4
Females 27,5 31,6 41,0 44,7 44,8 45,0
Language 1), %  
Finnish 86,8 91,1 92,4 86,9 86,5 85,9
Swedish 12,9 8,6 5,6 5,2 5,2 5,2
Sami 0,10 0,10 0,03 0,04 0,04 0,04
Other 0,3 0,2 1,9 7,8 8,3 8,9
Marital status, %  
Single 60,9 53,3 47,1 48,9 49,2 49,5
Married 2) 33,6 39,4 38,3 35,3 34,9 34,7
Divorced and widowed 2) 5,5 7,2 14,6 15,8 15,9 15,8
Religion, %  
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland 3) 98,1 95,0 85,1 67,8 66,6 65,2
Greek Orthodox Church 4) 1,7 1,7 1,1 1,1 1,1 1,1
Other 0,2 0,5 1,1 1,7 1,8 1,8
Population Register or unknown - 2,8 12,7 29,4 30,6 32,0

1) Finnish and Swedish are the official languages
2) In 2020–2022 incl. registered partnerships
3) Incl. other Lutheran churches
4) Incl. other Orthodox churches

Age structure of population on 31 December

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Population and population projection by age group, 1870-2022

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Vital statistics

  2000 2010 2020 2022
Live births 56 742 60 980 46 463 44 951
Deaths 49 339 50 887 55 488 63 219
Natural population increase 7 403 10 093 -9 025 -18 268
Intermunicipal migration 1) 237 443 264 266 296 852 295 710
Intramunicipal migration 1) 550 281 575 419 599 974 574 982
Immigration to Finland 16 895 25 636 32 898 49 998
Emigration from Finland 14 311 11 905 15 084 15 635
Net migration  2 584 13 731 17 814 34 363
Marriages 2) 27 751 31 925 22 082 21 942
Divorces 2) 14 096 13 807 13 478 11 370
Total change 9 813 23 849 8 501 15 729
Population 5 181 115 5 375 276 5 533 793 5 563 970

1) Regional division as on 1 January 2023
2) Marriages contracted and divorces where at least one of the spouses is living permanently in Finland

Vital statistics 1950-2022

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Live births and deaths, 1950-2022

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Life expectancy

Age 2000 2010 2022
Males Females Males Females Males Females
Years
  0 74,1 81,0 76,7 83,2 78,6 83,8
10 64,6 71,4 67,0 73,5 68,9 74,0
20 54,8 61,5 57,2 63,6 59,0 64,1
30 45,4 51,7 47,8 53,8 49,5 54,3
40 36,1 42,1 38,3 44,0 39,9 44,5
50 27,3 32,7 29,3 34,6 30,6 35,0
60 19,2 23,7 21,1 25,5 21,9 25,7
70 12,1 15,2 13,8 17,0 14,3 17,2
80 6,6 8,2 7,6 9,4 7,9 9,6

Causes of death, 2022

Cause of death Deaths % Males % Females %
Diseases of the circulatory system 19 526 31 10 136 32 9 390 30
Neoplasms 13 495 21 7 114 22 6 381 20
Dementia, Alzheimer's disease 12 313 19 4 178 13 8 135 26

COVID-19 virus infection

4 349 7 2 278 7 2 071 7
Accidents excl. alcohol poisonings 2 288 4 1 415 4 873 3
Diseases of the respiratory system 1 940 3 1 235 4 705 2
Alcohol related diseases and accidental poisoning by alcohol 1 664 3 1 251 4 413 1
Diseases of the digestive system 1 383 2 651 2 732 2
Suicides 740 1 556 2 184 1
Other causes of death 5 474 9 2 889 9 2 585 8
Deaths total 63 172 100 31 703 100 31 469 100

Migration, 1950-2022

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Population by origin and language, 2022

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Population by language on 31 December

  2019 2020 2021 2022 %
National languages, total 5 112 648 5 100 946 5 090 199 5 067 978 91,1
Finnish 4 822 690 4 811 067 4 800 243 4 778 891 85,9
Swedish 287 954 287 871 287 933 287 052 5,2
Sami 2 004 2 008 2 023 2 035 0,0
Foreign languages, total 412 644 432 847 458 042 495 992 8,9
Russian 81 606 84 190 87 552 93 535 1,7
Estonian 49 427 49 551 50 232 50 318 0,9
Arabic 31 920 34 282 36 466 39 069 0,7
English 22 052 23 433 25 638 29 448 0,5
Somali 21 920 22 794 23 656 24 647 0,4
Farsi, Persian 14 118 15 105 16 432 18 097 0,3
Kurdish 14 803 15 368 15 850 16 603 0,3
Chinese 13 064 13 778 14 780 15 735 0,3
Albanian 11 806 12 664 13 830 15 576 0,3
Vietnamese 11 094 11 562 12 310 13 138 0,2
Total 5 525 292 5 533 793 5 548 241 5 563 970 100

Population by citizenship

Country of citizenship 2020 2021 2022 Increase of population 2021–2022, %
Finland 5 254 876 5 251 777 5 240 284 -0,2
Foreign countries, total 278 917 296 464 323 686 9,2
Estonia 50 866 51 805 51 819 0,0
Russia 28 866 30 049 33 428 11,2
Iraq 14 708 15 075 15 322 1,6
China 10 458 11 405 12 297 7,8
India 7 237 8 245 10 487 27,2
Ukraine 5 837 7 202 8 441 17,2
Afghanistan 7 059 7 686 8 362 8,8
Philippines 4 701 5 351 8 140 52,1
Thailand 7 851 7 925 8 073 1,9
Sweden 8 041 7 921 7 943 0,3
Syrian Arab Republic 6 915 7 203 7 855 9,1
Vietnam 6 630 7 237 7 757 7,2
Türkiye 5 679 6 079 6 733 10,8
Somalia 6 460 6 581 6 674 1,4
Former Serbia and Montenegro 4 701 5 432 6 528 20,2
Others 102 908 111 268 123 827 11,3
Total 5 533 793 5 548 241 5 563 970 0,3

Finnish citizenships granted

Persons permanently resident in Finland

Country of previous citizenship 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Russia 1 766 1 946 1 546 1 161 2 062
Iraq 621 589 602 744 950
Estonia 541 658 516 370 626
Somalia 856 583 541 436 554
Afghanistan 339 309 264 227 363
Syrian Arab Republic 118 299 205 360 352
Viet Nam 197 221 148 140 331
Thailand 249 281 304 209 325
Ukraine 202 255 220 171 321
Türkiye 210 260 172 125 238
Others 4 112 4 248 3 298 2 700 4 076
Total 9 211 9 649 7 816 6 643 10 198

Applicants for asylum 

Year Applicants
for asylum
Decisions on asylum 1) Family reunification
Asylum granted Residence permit granted 2) Negative  decision Applications accepted 3) Applications rejected 3)
2015 32 477 1 112 767 1 307 986 406
2016 5 647 4 586 3 159 14 282 1 179 283
2017 5 047 2 528 1 256 3 996 2 080 619
2018 4 548 1 852 888 1 976 1 752 745
2019 4 550 2 073 888 2 875 1 531 613
2020 3 209 2 066 566 1 196 1 360 350
2021 2 545 2 132 380 893 1 214 221
2022 3 897 1 367 393 878 1 281 187

1) Decisions of the Finnish Immigration Service
2) Incl. residence permits granted on the basis of humanitarian and subsidiary protection
3) Decision concern one person

Families, 2022

Family type All families Average size of family Families with children aged 0–17 Families with children aged 0–6
Total 1 464 768 2,71 552 034 247 946
Married couple 1) with children 377 684 3,94 306 329 136 368
Cohabiting couples 2) with children 127 473 3,67 115 693 70 505
Mother with children 151 500 2,56 109 810 37 786
Father with children 35 139 2,34 20 202 3 287
Married couple 1) without children 536 927 2,00 . .
Cohabiting couples of opposite sex without children 236 045 2,00 . .

1) Incl. registered partnerships
2) Incl. same-sex spouses, of which one is the confirmed mother

Source: Statistics Finland, families

Families (xlsx)

Updated: 20.6.2023

Families with children

A family with underage children is a family comprising at least one child aged under 18 living at home

Families with children Total 1 child 2 children 3 children 4+ children
2000 612 627 268 369 230 758 85 025 28 475
2010 582 360 254 551 222 596 76 860 28 353
2022 552 034 240 752 216 705 68 395 26 182
2022, % 100 43,6 39,3 12,4 4,7

Demographic dependency ratio by municipality, 2022

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Regional division as on 1 January 2023

Population data by region

Region Population 31.12. Increase of population, %
Regional division as on 1 January 2023 2021 2022 2021–2022
Uusimaa 1 714 741 1 733 033 1,1
Southwest Finland 483 477 485 567 0,4
Satakunta 214 281 212 556 -0,8
Kanta-Häme 170 213 169 537 -0,4
Pirkanmaa 527 478 532 671 1,0
Päijät-Häme 205 124 204 528 -0,3
Kymenlaakso 161 391 159 488 -1,2
South Karelia 126 107 125 353 -0,6
South Savo 131 688 130 451 -0,9
North Savo 248 363 247 689 -0,3
North Karelia 163 281 162 540 -0,5
Central Finland 272 683 272 437 -0,1
South Ostrobothnia 191 762 190 774 -0,5
Ostrobothnia 176 041 176 323 0,2
Central Ostrobothnia 67 915 67 805 -0,2
North Ostrobothnia 415 603 416 543 0,2
Kainuu 71 255 70 521 -1,0
Lapland 176 494 175 795 -0,4
Åland 30 344 30 359 0,0
Whole country 5 548 241 5 563 970 0,3

Population in the largest municipalities

The total number of municipalities 309
Regional division as on 1 January 2023

Municipality Population Increase of population
31.12.2022 2021–2022 %
1. Helsinki 664 028 5 571 0,8
2. Espoo 305 274 8 142 2,7
3. Tampere 249 009 4 786 2,0
4. Vantaa 242 819 3 613 1,5
5. Oulu 211 848 2 297 1,1
6. Turku 197 900 2 763 1,4
7. Jyväskylä 145 887 1 414 1,0
8. Kuopio 122 594 1 051 0,9
9. Lahti 120 175 148 0,1
10. Pori 83 205 -277 -0,3

Development of selected offences

Offences recorded by the police, Finnish Customs and the Finnish Border Guard

  2019 2020 2021 2022
Offences and infractions total 818 528 686 045 501 398 494 737
Offences against the Criminal Code 452 771 543 429 482 593 475 942
Theft, petty theft 126 906 139 121 127 791 128 250
- Breaking into a residence or summer house 4 534 4 722 3 896 3 591
- Breaking into business premises 2 965 3 064 2 446 2 218
- Shoplifting 47 720 52 453 52 319 54 266
Robbery 1 809 1 996 1 893 2 329
Damage to property 30 519 33 443 31 806 30 922
Fraud, embezzlement 32 167 37 269 39 592 40 890
Means of payment frauds and offences 6 296 7 363 6 649 11 713
Manslaughter, murder, killing 72 86 83 79
Attempted manslaughter, murder or killing 329 383 374 349
Assault 33 849 33 285 34 123 38 160
Sexual exploitation of a child 1 709 1 770 2 089 2 380
Rape, aggravated rape 1 477 1 450 1 851 1 669
Traffic offences 110 660 132 434 134 442 119 329
Drunken driving 18 498 20 216 17 370 16 098
- Drunken driving, under the influence of alcohol 10 347 9 510 8 835 9 141
- Drunken driving, under the influence of other intoxicant 7 006 9 248 7 338 5 747
Violation of privacy, peace and honour 10 308 31 784 12 369 11 479
Offences involving narcotics 32 307 37 077 28 212 25 140
- Unlawful use of narcotics 21 074 23 785 19 295 17 213

Parliamentary elections 2023

Party Votes % Change from 2019 Seats
% points 2023 2019
National Coalition Party 644 555 20,8 3,8 48 38
Finns Party 640 981 20,1 2,6 46 39
Finnish Social Democratic Party 617 552 19,9 2,2 43 40
Centre Party of Finland 349 640 11,3 -2,5 23 31
Green League 217 795 7,0 -4,5 13 20
Left Alliance 218 430 7,1 -1,1 11 16
Swedish People´s Party in Finland 133 518 4,3 -0,2 9 9
Christian Democrats in Finland 130 694 4,2 0,3 5 5
Movement Now 74 995 2,4 - 1 1
Other parties 72 274 2,3 - - -
Others 15 170 0,5 -2,4 1 1
Total 3 095 604 100 0,0 200 200
Female candidates 1 546 685 50,0   92 94

Voting turnout of Finnish citizens resident in Finland 72.0%, Finns resident abroad included 68.5%

Voting turnout in parliamentary elections, 1908–2023

Finnish citizens resident in Finland

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European Parliament elections 2019

Party Votes % Change from 2014 Number of Euro-MPs elected
% points
National Coalition Party 380 460 20,8 -1,8 3
Green League 292 892 16,0 6,7 2
Finnish Social Democratic Party 267 603 14,6 2,3 2
Finns Party 253 176 13,8 1,0 2
Centre Party of Finland 247 477 13,5 -6,1 2
Left Alliance 126 063 6,9 -2,4 1
Swedish People´s Party in Finland 115 962 6,3 -0,4 1
Christian Democrats in Finland  89 204 4,9 -0,4 -
Others 57 208 3,1 1,2 -
Total 1 830 045 100 - 13
Females 1 000 059 54,6 6,0  

Voting turnout of Finnish citizens resident in Finland 42.7%

Municipal elections 2021

Party Votes %
National Coalition Party 522 623 21,4
Finnish Social Democratic Party 433 811 17,7
Centre Party of Finland 363 364 14,9
Finns Party 354 236 14,5
Green League 259 104 10,6
Left Alliance 194 385 7,9
Swedish People´s Party in Finland 121 494 5,0
Christian Democrats in Finland 88 259 3,6
Movement Now 38 943 1,6
Other parties 19 611 0,8
Constituency associations 50 482 2,1
Total 2 446 312 100

Voting turnout 55.1%

Presidential elections 2024

First round Votes %
Valid ballots 3 243 451 100
Alexander Stubb 882 388 27,2
Pekka Haavisto 836 712 25,8
Jussi Halla-aho 615 802 19,0
Olli Rehn 496 759 15,3
Li Andersson 158 579 4,9
Jutta Urpilainen 140 867 4,3
Sari Essayah 47 847 1,5
Mika Aaltola 47 467 1,5
Harry Harkimo 17 030 0,5
Invalid ballots 9 095 0,3

Voting turnout of Finnish citizens resident in Finland 75.0%, Finns resident abroad included 71.5%.

Second round Votes %
Valid ballots 3 052 078 100
Alexander Stubb 1 575 444 51,6
Pekka Haavisto 1 476 634 48,4
Invalid ballots 20 389 0,7

Voting turnout of Finnish citizens resident in Finland 70.7%, Finns resident abroad included 67.6%.

County elections 2022

Party Votes %
National Coalition Party 401 853 21,6
Finnish Social Democratic Party 359 462 19,3
Centre Party of Finland 356 851 19,2
Finns Party 206 637 11,1
Left Alliance 148 720 8,0
Green League

137 221

7,4
Swedish People´s Party in Finland 91 409 4,9
Christian Democrats in Finland 78 914 4,2
Movement Now 33 767 1,8
Valta kuuluu kansalle (VKK) 24 189 1,3
Other parties 7 819 0,4
Constituency associations 12 684 0,7
Total 1 859 526 100

Voting turnout 47.5%

Corrected on 11 April 2022. The corrections are indicated in red.

Main topic: Population and society

 

More statistical figures in the StatFin database

Finland in Figures only includes the key figures on Finland and Finns. You can find more figures on various sectors of society in the easy-to-use StatFin database.

The database also provides regional data, such as the population of municipalities.

Last updated 7 Mar 2024