4.2 The Church Act from 1686 - the basis of population statistics

The lists of population kept by parishes formed the actual foundation for compiling population statistics. In the early 17^th century parishes started to keep lists of baptisms, marriages and burials, following the Central European custom. In the parish of Vesterås, for example, this was initiated from 1622 onwards.

In present-day Finland, Isak Rothovius, the bishop of Turku, ordered in 1628 each vicar to keep "on his desk a church register by which to act". Marriages, baptisms and burials were entered in church registers. The so-called communion book developed into the main parish register, which was used as the population register. Parish clergymen entered in communion books information about the parishioners' knowledge of the Christian doctrine and literacy.

The Church Act of 1686 ordered every parish to maintain a list "from cottage to cottage and from house to house". This law laid the foundation for Finland's present continuous population information system. More information about the population information system is available at: www.vaestorekisterikeskus.fi.

The Church Act is significant for the development of population statistics, because it defines in great detail the information describing the population. In addition to registering births, deaths and marriages, the clergy were obliged to enter in the lists information on migration, that is, "from where they came, how they behaved and where they went". Church registers are thus an indispensable information source not only for demographers but for genealogists as well.