2.2 Birth rate

Birth rate is the number of live births during the year as a proportion of the total population. In 2007, a total of 58,729 children were born in Finland. In that same year, there were 5,288,719 Finnish nationals, on the average. The number of births as a proportion of the population was just over one per cent (1.11%). Normally, however, the birth rate is indicated per one thousand persons, i.e. in per mille. The birth rate in Finland was 11.1 per one thousand population(around 11‰).

Birth rate may vary quite widely from one municipality to the next. In 2007, the highest birth rate was recorded in Liminka at 25 live births per one thousand population. In Sottunga there was no births in 2007 and in Tervo, the number of live births that same year was 1.67 per one thousand population.

One reason for these differences lies in differing population structures. Liminka has a relatively large number of women of childbearing age, in Sottunga and Tervo the population is older. Indeed, birth statistics usually take account of the population's age structure.

In recent decades, birth rate has shown a tendency to decline. Immediately after the Second World War, birth rate in Finland was very high. Indeed, those born in 1946-1949 are commonly described as the babyboom generation: during this period more than 100,000 children were born each year.