Basic data of the statistics
Data description
Statistical population
Statistical unit
Unit of measure
In the key figures, either per mil, or the number of events per 1,000 persons of the mean population subject to the event, or events per one person.
Reference period
Reference area
The classification into regions and the statistical grouping of municipalities have been used since 1997. The respective categories used prior to this were province and type of municipality. Since 1999, the regional division entering into force at the beginning of the year following the statistical reference year has been applied in the statistics on births.
Sector coverage
Statistics on children born include gender, whether the child was born in a currently valid marriage or outside marriage, month of birth, municipality of birth, country of birth, nationality and language. In addition, the duration of pregnancy and the weight of the foetus are recorded for stillbirths. A child is recorded as having been born in Finland if the mother is permanently resident in Finland at the time of birth even if she is temporarily abroad.
The variables on mothers include age, number of children, order number of the child, marital status, nationality, language, country of birth, municipality of birth and municipality of residence, date of marriage and order number of marriage. If the mother of the child was married at the time of birth, the same population data are available on the father of the child as on the mother. From 2018 onwards, the statistics contain some data on the father of a child born outside marriage if the father has acknowledged the child.
As a rule, indicators describing the birth rate are calculated with the help of data on the mother. These include the general birth and fertility rates, fertility rate by age group, total fertility rate by period, and gross and net reproduction rates. The ages of becoming mothers and fathers have been calculated for both genders.
Time coverage
The number of stillbirths per year is available starting from 1955.
Frequency of dissemination
The final statistics on stillborn for a calendar year are completed in October of the following calendar year. The statistics on causes of death also release the number of stillborn around two months after the population statistics’ statistics on stillborn have been completed. The figures in the two different sets of statistics may differ slightly because the waiting period for events of the statistics on causes of death is longer than that of the population statistics.
Preliminary data on the number of live births are published monthly on Statistics Finland's preliminary population statistics pages.
Concepts
Age
Age-specific fertility rate
Birth order
Births
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition, 'stillborn' is the term for a newborn with a birth weight of at least 500 g or, if the birth weight is not available, a newborn born dead after a pregnancy lasting 22 weeks or more. The WHO definition has been in use since 1987. From the 2003 vital statistics onwards, the same national definition is used as in the cause-of-death statistics: 'stillborn' is the term for a newborn with a birth weight of at least 500 g, or a newborn born dead after a pregnancy lasting 22 weeks or more.
Before 1987 stillborn was the term for a newborn born dead after a pregnancy lasting 28 weeks or more.
Children are classified in birth statistics by the mother's marital status at the time of the child's birth. A child born during marriage is a legitimate child. A widow can give birth to a legitimate child if the pregnancy began while she was still married. A child born out of wedlock is illegitimate. Cases where the mother has married the child's father after the child's birth are also considered illegitimate in these statistics. According to the law, such children only become legitimate as of the date when their parents enter into a marriage contract with each other.
Crude birth rate
Crude fertility rate
Excess of births
difference between livebirths and deaths.
Gross reproduction rate
Increase of population
Language
Languages are classified by the Population Register Centre according to the ISO 639 standard. The future language classification ISO-639-1 was already adopted for the 2000 population census.
Liveborn
Mean population
Net reproduction rate
Proportion of stillbirths
Reproduction of the population
Sex
Stillborn
Total fertility
Accuracy, reliability and timeliness
Overall accuracy
The Population Information System maintained by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency and the State Department of Åland can be regarded as very exhaustive in terms of persons. To obtain a personal identity code, a person has to be registered in the Population Information System. It is practically impossible to live in Finland without a personal identity code. A personal identity code is needed in order to work legally, open a bank account, attend to matters with authorities, and so on.
Since the discontinuation of yearly checking of domicile registers in 1989, the Population Information System has been maintained only by notifications of population changes. Their correctness is determined by reliability surveys made of the addresses in the Population Information System.
The Digital and Population Data Services Agency has requested Statistics Finland to carry out sample surveys on the correctness of address data. Around 11,000 persons have been asked whether their address in the Population Information System is correct. In the latest survey 2012, the address was correct for 98.9 per cent of the respondents.
Timeliness
Punctuality
Comparability
Comparability - geographical
Within the country, the statistics describing regional birth rates are comparable when the effect of different age structures in the areas has been eliminated by using age standardisation.
The definitions of liveborn and stillborn are in line with international recommendations.
On the other hand, there are small differences in definitions between EU countries in how children born to foreign citizens are recorded in different countries. In some countries, a child is recorded as having been born in the country if the father of the child is permanently resident in the country, but the mother is not. In the aforementioned case, if the mother is permanently resident in Finland, the child would be recorded as having been born in Finland.
Comparability - over time
Starting from 1776, there are data on the level of the whole country on mothers having given birth by five-year age groups and from 1936 onwards on children born by the mother's age. Temporal comparisons between countries by the most used key figure, the total fertility rate, are possible starting from 1776.
Live births by the mother's marital status are available starting from 1761.
Live births by the birth order of all the mother's children are available starting from 1982.
Coherence - cross domain
THL, the National Institute for Health and Welfare, maintains the birth register and releases data on deliveries, births and newborns. The figures of the National Institute for Health and Welfare differ somewhat from those of Statistics Finland. Statistics Finland's figures include mothers permanently resident in Finland at the time of birth of the child, while the National Institute for Health and Welfare's birth register includes all those having given birth in Finland and their children.
Coherence - internal
The final statistics differ from the preliminary statistics mainly in that the data of final statistics are checked more closely than those of the preliminary statistics and the final statistics contain more variables to describe the phenomenon.
The statistics on causes of death compile statistics on stillbirths as well. The same data are used in the statistics on births as in the statistics on causes of death, but the data are taken into use around two months earlier than in the statistics on causes of death. Due to the differences in waiting period, there may be a small difference in the numbers of the two sets of statistics. In the statistics on births, stillbirths are used in the order number of children born to the mother.
Source data and data collections
Source data
The data stored in the Population Information System are specified in the Act (21 August 2009/661) on the Population Information System and the certificate services of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
Data collection
Frequency of data collection
Methods
Data compilation
The data contain background variables where missing data may occur.
Attempts are made to fill them in using population data and the Population Information System.
Cases are not imputed.
Data validation
It is checked that there are no duplicate rows in the data.
It is checked that there are no cases that would have been included in the data for previous years.
The direct distributions of the variables are checked and it is examined if the variable values are in line with the classifications.
Missing cases are examined. Data are searched for in other population data sets and ultimately in the direct access service of the Population Information System.
The logicality of certain variables is checked by cross-tabulation, such as that a child registered as legitimate was born in marriage.
Principles and outlines
Contact organisation
Statistics Finland
Contact organisation unit
Legal acts and other agreements
Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.
Further information:Statistical legislation
The Digital and Population Data Services Agency submits the changes, such as data on children born, in persons’ population data registered in the Population Information System to Statistics Finland weekly.
Data on population changes are total data. Population changes concerning all persons permanently resident in Finland have been drawn from the Population Information System.
The data stored in the Population Information System are specified in the Act (21 August 2009/661) on the Population Information System and the certificate services of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The rights of residence of foreign citizens are defined in the Aliens Act (301/2004).
Statistics Finland and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency have prepared a data file agreement on data delivery.
Regulation (EC) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council defines the data to be submitted to the Commission (Eurostat). Metadata are also submitted on the data releases. The due dates for submission are determined in the Regulation. The following population statistics data are supplied on live births: gender, month of birth, order of liveborn children, age of mother, year of birth of mother, marital status of mother, country of birth of mother, nationality of mother (country) and area of residence of mother. Concerning stillbirths, the age of the mother is supplied.
Membership in various international organisations also causes an obligation to deliver statistical data. These include the UN, the OECD and the Nordic Council.
Based on UN membership, cooperation is carried out with the United Nations Statistical Division by supplying the same data to the UN as to Eurostat.
Confidentiality - policy
Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
Confidentiality - data treatment
In accordance with data protection practices, rules concerning less detailed data are applied when distributing data by area if the table contains variables specified as sensitive. Then figures below the threshold value are not reported or they are not divided into categories of sensitive variables.
According to the Statistics Act, data released for research use must be edited into a form from which statistical units cannot be identified directly or indirectly. In order to prevent indirect identification, the key variables in terms of identification must be edited using statistical data protection methods suitable for the situation.
Releasing the sample instead of the total data is the main data protection method.
In addition to sampling, Statistics Finland has used, for example, less detailed classification of variables, removal of variables or suppression of the variable values received by an individual unit as data limiting methods.
Release policy
Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland
Data sharing
The preliminary population statistics produce monthly statistics on population changes, which include data on liveborn children.
Separate annual statistics are produced yearly on live births and stillbirths.
Regulation (EC) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council defines the data and metadata to be submitted to the Commission (Eurostat). The due dates for submission are determined in the Regulation. The following data are supplied on live births: gender, month of birth, order of liveborn children, age of mother, marital status of mother, year of birth of mother, country of birth of mother, nationality of mother (country) and area of residence of mother. The above-mentioned data are also delivered to the United Nations Statistical Division, the OECD and the Nordic Council.
Final data on births by month and an estimate of births are also delivered to the EU in November of the year following the reference year.
Accessibility and clarity
In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.
Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.
Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.
Basic population data are available by municipality or by larger regional divisions than municipality in Statistics Finland’s free StatFin statistical database.
Data and time series on births are also available on the tables page of the statistics on births.
Population statistics from 1750 onwards have been digitised into PDF format in the National Library's Doria service:
Publications on population structure and population changes as well as publications on population censuses.
The charged population statistics information service contains more specified information on the population, e.g. by municipal sub-area (in Finnish). More information about the service is available on the web pages of the Information service.
Data revision - policy
Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.
The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.
Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.
Quality assessment
Live births in the statistical reference year are compared with the number of births in the preliminary statistics.
Live births in the statistical reference year are also compared with births in the year in question in the population structure data. However, the exact same numbers are not attained due to infant mortality and emigration.
The statistics on births were audited in 2016.
Quality assurance
Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
User access
Further information: Publication principles for statistics
Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data.
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