Press release 23.11.2005
Statistical Yearbook of Finland 2005, basic reference book in the field of statistics, released
The compendium of statistics, Statistical Yearbook of Finland 2005, has been released. The statistics in the volume are grouped under 32 topics, which cover the entire Finnish society - included are statistics on the population, businesses, living conditions, education and culture, economy and business activities and environment. The Yearbook published by Statistics Finland has 702 pages and 688 statistical tables and graphs, a number of thematic maps and an 81-page international section. Besides the latest annual data, the Yearbook also contains long time series and regional data. Statistics Finland has been publishing the Yearbook since 1879.
The Yearbook includes a CD-ROM, which contains the whole publication in pdf format, all the tables in Excel format and thematic maps. The Yearbook is also available as an online service. The Statistical Yearbook of Finland is in Finnish, Swedish and English.
Selections from the content of the Yearbook:
- In 1947 an all-time record number of children were born in Finland, i.e. 108,168. The number of deaths was highest during the Great Famine in 1868, when 137,720 people died. Last year 57,758 Finns were born live and 47,600 Finns died. The life expectancy of boys born last year was 75.3 years and of girls 82.3 years.
- Finnish citizenship was granted to 6,880 foreigners last year. The number of asylum seekers was 3,861, i.e. 640 more than in 2003. Between 1973 and 2004, 25,114 refugees have moved to Finland. In 2004 there were over nine million refugees in the whole world.
- Finland has 432 municipalities. According to the population at the end of 2004, eight municipalities have under 500 inhabitants, 330 municipalities under 10,000 inhabitants and six municipalities over 100,000 inhabitants.
- In 2004 the share of oil in total energy consumption in Finland was around 25 per cent, that of wood fuel 21 per cent, that of nuclear energy 16 per cent and that of coal 15 per cent. Oil accounted for 38 per cent of total energy consumption in the whole world, nuclear energy for seven per cent and coal for 28 per cent.
- The number of organic farms decreased last year from the year before, but organically farmed land area increased. In all, 168,521 hectares, or 7.6 per cent of all arable land, were organically farmed. The average size of an organic farm was 34.2 hectares. In 2000, there were 147,423 organic hectares and the average size of an organic farm was 28.2 hectares.
- The number of fur farms was 1,596 last year, which is 112 fewer than one year previously. In 1985 fur farms numbered 5,810.
- At the end of 2003, Finland had a total of 2.6 million dwellings. Five per cent of them had a substandard level of equipment, which means that they did not have either piped water installation, sewer, hot water or flush toilet. Every second dwelling had a private sauna. Sixty per cent of the dwelling stock were built after 1970 and nine per cent before 1940.
- At the end of 2004 households' consumer credit amounted to EUR nine billion and housing credit to EUR 43 billion. The value of housing credit was EUR 17 billion higher than in 2000, EUR six billion higher than in 2003, and EUR three billion more than the government budget expenditure for next year.
- Last year 43 million litres of alcoholic beverages (as converted to 100 per cent alcohol) were sold, which was seven per cent more than in the previous year. A record amount of 8.2 litres of alcohol were consumed per inhabitant, which is half a litre more than one year before. EUR 716 per inhabitant was spent on alcohol, which is EUR 60 less than in the previous year. In all, purchases of alcoholic beverages totalled EUR 3.8 billion. Last year 26,977 cases of drunken driving were recorded, which is nearly ten per cent more than in 2003.
- Last year 14,704 children or young persons were placed outside their own home, which is 340 more than in the year before. The number of custody cases was 8,673, i.e. 323 more than one year previously.
- Forty-five per cent of the working-age population are overweight (the body mass index of 25 or over). Overweight are 53 per cent of men and 39 per cent of women.
- The largest lake in the world, the Caspian Sea, is bigger in area than Finland. The area of the Caspian Sea is 371,000 km2 .
Source: Statistical Yearbook of Finland
2005. Statistics Finland.
Price EUR 73 (standing subscription EUR 63)
Inquiries: Ms Eila Laakso +358 9 1734 2509
Director in charge: Mr Jussi Melkas
Orders: Statistics Finland's Sales and Customer Services +358 9
1734 2011, myynti@stat.fi
Introduction of the Yearbook online service: www.stat.fi/tup/vuosikirja/index_en.html