2.3 Mortality

The number of deaths is described in the same way as the number of births. Mortality indicates the number of people who have died as a proportion of the total population. In the same way as the number of births, the number of deaths is usually expressed as a proportion of 1,000 population. In 2007, a total of 49,077 persons died in Finland, and the mortality rate was just under one per cent (0.9%). The figure per one thousand population was 9.3 (9.3‰).

In 2007, the number of live births in Finland exceeded the number of deaths by 9,652. In other words, mortality was lower than birth rate in Finland.

The mortality rate was highest in 2007 in the small island community of Sottunga: 34.5 deaths per one thousand population. The lowest figure was recorded at Lumparland, where nobody died. At Oulunsalo, 3.1 persons died per one thousand population. Differences in mortality are largely explained by the population structure. The population is relatively young at Oulunsalo and old at Sottunga. Just as in the case of birth rate comparisons, studies of mortality need to take account of the population's age structure.

The level of mortality does not vary significantly from one year to the next. Notable exceptions in the Finnish history include famines and the war years.