Concepts: M

The concepts described on these pages are words and expressions used in statistics with a specific, limited meaning. In everyday speech the word may have a different meaning. The same concept may mean a different thing in different sets of statistics. For example, the concept “unemployed” has three different definitions.

In connection with each definition you can find information about which sets of statistics use the concept. If you are looking for statistical figures, go from the definition to the statistics page.

The main activity recorded by a respondent in a time-use diary.

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Main destination of trip in Finland is the destination a non-resident visitor reports as his/her main destination. There may be several main destinations but no more than two of them are recorded. In the Border Interview Survey, main destination of trip is registered at the accuracy of municipality. Main destination can also be a place without overnighting.

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The main job is the only or primary job of an employed person. If there are several jobs, the main job is the one on which the person spends most time. The division of main and secondary jobs is based on the respondent's own reporting.

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The concept of main type of activity describes the nature of a person's economic activity. The population is divided into people in the labour force and those outside the labour force. These categories can further be divided into subgroups. The classification is based on data on a person's main type of activity during the last week of the year.

The following classification is used:

Labour force
- employed labour force
- unemployed

Persons outside the labour force
- 0-14-year-olds
- students, pupils
- pensioners
- conscripts, conscientious objectors
- others outside the labour force.

Information on the main type of activity is based on data obtained from various registers. Where the data conflict as to whether a person is in the labour force or outside it, priority is given to the former. If, within the labour force, the data conflict as to whether a person is unemployed or employed, priority is given to the former.

The group "others outside the labour force" consists of persons who are not in the labour force and do not belong to the following groups: 0-14-year-olds, students, conscripts, conscientous objectors or pensioners.

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Activity related to the maintenance of real estate in which the aim is retention of the properties of the real estate by renewing or repairing faulty or worn parts without changing its relative level of quality.

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Maintenance and repair services n.i.e. cover repairs made to keep the good in operation, improve the functionality or capacity of the product or extend its service life, excluding cleaning of transport equipment, construction maintenance and repair, and repair and maintenance of computers. The repairs may be performed at the site of the repairer or elsewhere.

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There are several definitions for this concept

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Maintenance costs include expenditure arising from the management and maintenance of real estate, such as all its service, electricity, heating, water consumption and waste management costs.

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Maintenance costs of outdoor areas include payments made to real estate management companies for cleaning the outside areas, managing green areas and planting, snow removal and anti-skid treatment.

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Manufacturing is understood as the processing of mechanical or chemical organic or inorganic substances into new products regardless of whether the processing is mechanical or manual and performed in a factory or in a worker's home. According to the definition, also product assembly is considered to be manufacturing. In statistics compilation manufacturing is traditionally deemed to include not only basic manufacturing but also mining and quarrying as well as electricity, gas and water supply.

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Manufacturing services comprise processing, assembly, marking, packaging and so forth, by an enterprise that does not own the goods in question. The manufacturing service is performed by a unit that receives payment for it from the owner. Manufacturing services are also referred to as goods sent abroad for processing, processing and paid work.

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There are several definitions for this concept

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The information on marital status is derived from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. It should be noted that common-law marriage or cohabiting is not a marital status. People representing all marital status categories may be cohabiting, including those who are still officially married.

The current divorce regulations no longer recognise the concept of legal separation. Those persons who are legally separated on the basis of the old divorce provisions prior to 1 January 1988 and still living apart have been slotted under married persons in the statistics.

The possibility to register partnerships started in Finland on 1 March 2002 and ended on the last day of February 2017 (Act to amend the Act of Registered Partnerships 250/2016). Starting from the beginning of March 2017, same-sex couples have been able to enter into marriage (156/2015). Same-sex couples had been able to register their partnership in Finland as of 1 March 2002.

The amendment to the Marriage Act that entered into force on 1 March 2017 didn't change the classification of marital status.

For reasons of data protection, in municipal tables those living in a registered partnership are classified together with married persons, as are those divorced or widowed from a registered partnership with divorced and widowed persons.

The classification of marital status is as follows:
- Unmarried
- Married
- Divorced
- Widowed
- Partner in a registered partnership
- Divorced from a registered partnership
- Widowed after a registered partnership

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There are several definitions for this concept

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Includes e.g. certificates of deposit, commercial papers and local authority papers, Treasury bills and debt instruments issued by asset management companies. Non-transferable certificates of deposit are not included in this category.

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A marketing innovation is the implementation of a new marketing method (marketing idea or strategy) that differs significantly from the previous marketing method used by the enterprise and that has not been previously used by the enterprise. A requirement for a marketing innovation is that it involves significant changes in the product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing.

Seasonal, regular and other routine changes in marketing methods are not considered marketing innovations.

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Starting from the statistical reference year 2017, contracted marriages refer to marriages where at least one of the spouses has resided permanently in Finland on the day when the marriage was contracted. The amendment to the Marriage Act that entered into force on 1 March 2017 enabled same-sex couples to enter into marriage (156/2015).

The number of marriages contracted annually is, thus, the number of marriages entered into by same-sex and opposite-sex spouses.

In 1980 to 2016, contracted marriages referred to marriages of women living permanently in Finland unless otherwise stated.

As a result of the amendment to the Marriage Act, starting from 1 June 2019, a person under 18 years of age shall not marry in Finland (351/ 2019).

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In the mass balance, raw materials and products of the forest industry are converted into equivalent measurement units, dry matter tonnes of wood, and the amounts of wood material bound as raw wood in the forest industry, and as intermediate products, final products, fuel and waste are monitored.

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University degree obtained at a university of applied sciences based on a university of applied sciences degree or other applicable university degree.

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Material intensity describes the national economy's dependency on natural resources. It can be measured as the ratio of total material requirement, domestic material consumption or direct inputs to GDP. As material intensity decreases, the aim is to reach a situation where the state of the environment does not deteriorate as the economy grows. This is also known as decoupling of economic growth and environmental impacts. Domestic material consumption in relation to GDP is one of the sustainable development indicators (SDG).

= DMC/GDP

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There are several definitions for this concept

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Maternal mortality covers all deaths which occur during the pregnancy or during 42 days after the end of the pregnancy, regardless of the duration or location of the pregnancy. Included are all deaths of pregnant women due to any pregnancy related cause or a cause exacerbated by pregnancy, but not accidental or violent deaths. Maternal deaths are included in Chapter XV of the International Classification of Diseases. Maternal mortality is obtained by dividing the number of maternal deaths by 100,000 live-born children.

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Matriculation examination refers to a final examination of upper secondary general school which is set by the matriculation examination board and which a student studying the full upper secondary general school syllabus can take. Satisfactory pass of the matriculation examination leads to a matriculation examination certificate.

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The arithmetic mean income is received when the income of all income recipients is added up and divided by the number of observations. Mean income is more sensitive to extreme observations than median income.

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The mean number of prisoners refers to the daily average number of prisoners during a calendar year.

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The notion of mean population (or average population) refers to the average of the populations of two consecutive years. When a ratio describing some phenomenon is calculated for the statistical year, the number of events in the phenomenon in question is usually expressed as a proportion of the mean population of the people or the groups subject to the event. The figures relating to population events are generally given as per 1,000, that is, the result of the division is multiplied by one thousand.

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The measurement units for volume data (of them 0 to 2 per product heading) are visible in the StatFin database tables right after the product heading text in brackets, in the form (primary measurement unit / secondary measurement unit), e.g. (kg / m2 or (kg / -).

In the commodity inquiry, volume data can be asked on the commodity heading for one or two measurement units or no volume data at all. If two items of volume data are asked, data suppliers should reply to both of them.

Nearly 40 different measurement units are in use. Therefore, there are great restrictions to summing up volume data.

Measurement units can describe weight or gross tonnage, length, area, capacity, number (item or pair), power and energy, gross caloric value, etc.

In the product data, the primary measurement unit is the measurement unit required by the EU. This also concerns both the volume of sold production and total production.

The secondary measurement unit in the product data is the measurement unit used for national needs. The motive is often that data suppliers can give volume data precisely for that measurement unit. This also concerns the volume data of both sold production and total production. If secondary volume data are not inquired, the corresponding measurement unit is indicated with a hyphen (-).

If the primary measurement unit is indicated with a hyphen (-), volume data are not inquired at all for the product heading concerned. Then it is either a question of a service heading or a heading with a very heterogenic content, such as a residual category heading on which data cannot be asked only for one measurement unit.

For a small number of production headings the primary and/or secondary measurement unit changes compared with the year before. Measurement units may change places or a new measurement unit may take the place of a missing secondary measurement unit.

The measurement unit in materials and supplies data: Only one measurement unit (and one item of volume data) per commodity heading is used in these data. The measurement units were selected based on Statistics Finland's needs. The measurement units in the volume data of materials and supplies do not vary as much as in the product data (production data).

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When income recipients are put in the order of size by income, median income is the income of the middle income recipient. An equal number of income recipients remain on both sides of the middle income recipient. Median income is not as sensitive to extreme observations as mean income.

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Mental violence or bullying at work refers to isolation, invalidating of work, threats, talking behind one's back and other pressurising directed to a member of the work community. Mental violence may be perpetrated by the supervisor or colleagues, but also by customers or students.

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In merchanting, a Finnish economic unit purchases a good from abroad and resells it without changes abroad without the goods ever entering Finland. Merchanting is recorded exclusively in exports.

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The portfolio data of a merging financial institution are not reported as new credits in the outstanding credit. After the merger, Statistics Finland adds up the outstanding credit of the merged financial institutions.

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There are several definitions for this concept

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A micro enterprise is defined as an enterprise with fewer than 10 employees.

As from statistical year 2003 also enterprises which have an annual turnover or balance-sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million and which conform to the criterion of independence as defined below, are defined as micro enterprises.

Independent enterprises are those which are not owned as to 25 per cent or more of the capital or the voting rights by one enterprise, or jointly by several enterprises, falling outside the definition of an SME or a small enterprise, whichever may apply.

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Mixed fuels refer to fuels that contain both fossil and renewable (biodegradable) coal.

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Mixed income is the balancing item of the generation of income account of unincorporated enterprises in the households sector, corresponding to remuneration for work carried out by the owner and members of his family and including his profits as entrepreneur.

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A mobile network is essentially a communications network primarily used for targeted communication in which the terminal equipment is linked to the communications network through freely propagating radio waves.

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Early childhood education and care can be organised by a municipality or a joint municipal authority, purchased by a municipality or a joint municipal authority, based on a service voucher supplied by a municipality or a joint municipal authority, based on private day care allowance, or provided as private early childhood education and care without private day care allowance.

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Modernisation is an operation which usually raises the value or quality of a building above its previous level.

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Money income is obtained when imputed income items are deducted from household gross income.

Imputed items are imputed income obtained from an owner-occupied dwelling in own use. Money income includes benefits in kind connected to employment relationships.

Gross money income = the household's factor income (wages and salaries, entrepreneurial and property income) + current transfers received by the household.

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The item includes investments in the wholesale money market.

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Short-term (original maturity not more than 12 months) marketable money market claims, such as certificates of deposits, commercial papers and local authority papers, treasury bills and debt instruments issued by asset management companies, marketable money market promissory notes and other marketable money market claims. Money market investments and non-marketable money market promissory notes are not included in outstanding credit.

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The item includes non-marketable money market claims based on promissory notes.
Non-marketable money market promissory notes are not included in outstanding credit.

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A mechanism based on the decision of the European Parliament and of the Council for monitoring community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges the Member States to contribute the EU's common greenhouse gas inventory and other climate policy, and to monitoring and evaluating detailed measures under it. The EU Governance Regulation (2018/1999) has repealed the EU’s Monitoring Mechanism Regulation.

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A monitoring sentence is a punishment of at most six months imposed in place of unconditional imprisonment. A monitoring sentence can be imposed if the offender cannot be sentenced to community service, no bar arises from the nature of previous offences and punishments and a monitoring sentence is deemed to be justified for the maintenance of promotion of the social adaptation of the offender. (Criminal Code, Chapter 6, Section 11a). Those sentenced to a monitoring sentence live at their home but they are monitored during the punishment with technical devices and in other ways. A monitoring sentence is converted back to unconditional imprisonment if the conditions of punishment are breached.

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Monthly business indicators are index-format indicators describing turnover, exports, sum of wages and salaries and number of employees that are produced monthly and by industry, and are intended to help in the monitoring of business trends. The production of the indices is regulated by the Regulation on European business statistics.

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Monthly change is the relative change in the index from a time period one month earlier. The change is usually expressed as a percentage.

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Monthly wage earners are remunerated for work performed on a monthly basis. Earnings are usually based on one month's working time and tend to stay the same from month to month. Monthly wage earners are normally salaried employees. The pay system is determined in the collective agreement.

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Months of employment refer to the total number of months the person was in gainful employment during a year. The data on months of employment derive from various registers.
From 2005 onwards, months of employment are calculated from the number of working days. One month of employment does not necessarily correspond to employment of a full month, but for example, the accumulation of 15 to 44 working days during the year corresponds to one month of employment and the accumulation of 45 to 74 working days corresponds to two months of employment. The accumulation month of days of employment has no significance for the number of months of employment.

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Months of unemployment refer to the total number of months the person was unemployed during a year. The data are obtained from the job seeker register of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

From 2005 onwards, months of unemployment are calculated from the number of unemployment days. One month of unemployment does not necessarily correspond to unemployment of a full month, but for example, the accumulation of 15 to 44 unemployment days during the year corresponds to one month of unemployment and the accumulation of 45 to 74 unemployment days corresponds to two months of unemployment. The accumulation month of days of unemployment has no significance for the number of months of unemployment.

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A two or three-wheeled power-driven vehicle with a design speed of no more than 45km/h.

A two-wheeled moped has a cylinder capacity of no more than 50 cc when driven by an internal combustion engine, or net power output of no more than 4kW when driven by an electric motor. A low power moped is a two-wheeled moped equipped with pedals with a design speed of no more than 25 km/h and net power output of no more than 1kW. A three-wheeled moped has a cylinder capacity of no more than 50 cc when driven by a positive ignition engine, or net power output of no more than 4kW when driven an internal combustion engine or electric motor.

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The most aggravated offence, or the so-called principal offence, committed by the suspect during the statistical year. The degree of seriousness of an offence is determined on the basis of the sentence given for an offence, for example.

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The principal type of motor energy used by the vehicle as certified by the competent authority of the country of registration.

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Motor fuel taxes comprise basic and surtax on motor petrol and diesel oil and charges for safeguarding security of their supply.

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A motor sledge is an off road vehicle fitted with runners or tracks. A snowmobile is a motor sledge on tracks which has seats for not more than two passengers in addition to the driver and the unladen mass of which does not exceed 500 kg.

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A motorised work machine is a vehicle constructed to operate as a working machine. Motorised work machines include scoop loaders, jib cranes and sweeping machines. A motorised work machine has a design speed of no more than 40 km/h. However, a motorised work machine used in road maintenance may travel at a speed exceeding 40 km/h. A further exclusion are terminal pulltractors which may not travel at a speed exceeding 50 km/h.

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A motorcar is a power-driven vehicle with at least four wheels or tracks constructed for carrying persons or goods or performing a specific function and having a maximum design speed exceeding 25 km/h.

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A two-wheeled power-driven vehicle with or without a sidecar. The cylinder capacity of its internal combustion engine is over 50 cc or its design speed is over 45 km/h.

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A motorway is a road intended only for fast-moving motor vehicle traffic. The different directions of the motorway are physically separated and the motorway does not cross at the same level with other transport routes.

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Multi-factor productivity (or total factor productivity) refers to the part of growth in value added which is not explained by the growth in inputs (capital, labour). However, this cannot be measured directly, so its effects have to be assessed as a residual, when other factors having influenced the growth of productivity have been subtracted. Usually, the multi-factor productivity is thought to be almost the same as technical development, but it may also include other factors.
Multi-factor productivity can be calculated based on value added or output. It is derived when the effects of contributions of capital and labour force are deducted from value added (or output). If the calculation is based on the output method, the effect of intermediate consumption is also deducted.

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It is justified to assume that there is exchange of intermediate products between industries. For instance, industry x may supply conductors for industry y. The conductors of industry x are the final products of industry x, but not the end products for the whole production chain. Industry y utilises conductors for manufacturing its own end products, e.g. this is the case in industries that produce technical devices or other high tech equipment. When using the value added method, the contribution of the intermediate input remains unnoticed. Output based productivity calculation accounts for this effect:
The calculation formula for multifactor productivity changes into form: ?multifactor productivity?_output=change in output-(contribution of capital +contribution of labour + contribution of intermediate consumption)

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By definition, value added is output minus intermediate consumption. When applying value added calculation for assessing multi-factor productivity, the contributions of capital and labour are deducted from the change in value added, i.e. ?multifactor productivity?_(value added)=change in value added-(contributions of capital + labour)

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Finland is divided into local authorities where the autonomy of residents is safeguarded in the constitution. In general elections, the residents elect a council, which makes binding decisions and forms the organs responsible for preparatory work, enforcement and other administrative functions (municipal executive board and committees).

Elections are held, i.e. the council is elected, every four years on the third Sunday of October. This size of the council varies according to the population of the municipality (number of councillors ranges between 17 and 85).

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A way to organise municipal business activities. Municipal enterprises following the so-called municipal enterprise model are independent units in terms of accounting to which the council of the municipality or joint municipal board has granted a more independent budgetary status than that of other municipal functional units. According to the instructions of the Municipal Section of the Accounting Board, municipal enterprises draft separate financial statements containing a profit and loss account, a funds statement and a balance sheet.

A municipal enterprise is part of the municipal administration and finances; it is not a separate legal person and it does not have an independent legal obligation to keep books.

Only a part of municipal enterprises follow the municipal enterprise model. In statistics on the finances of municipalities and joint municipal boards other municipal business operations (incl. enterprises treated as so called other balance sheet units and business with separate accounts) are treated in the same way as other municipal activities. Income and expenditure from joint-stock or other such business operations are not included in the statistics on the finances of municipalities even if the municipality owns the entire capital stock of the enterprise.

The profit and loss account in the municipal budget includes settlements between the municipality and a municipal enterprise (internal interest paid and return on the municipal enterprise's fixed capital) but not the municipal enterprise's "own" profit and loss estimates. Hence a municipal enterprise is not linked to the municipal budget "line by line". According to the budget recommendation of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the municipality must also compile for its budget a profit and loss statement that includes the profit and loss estimates of the municipal enterprise line by line and from which the interest paid on internal loans and the return on fixed capital have been eliminated. The municipality can use this profit and loss estimate in communicating about its budget to the public.

The separate financial statement of a municipal enterprise is integrated "line by line" into the municipality's or joint municipal board's financial statement to form an overall financial statement.

Since a municipal enterprise is treated differently in the budget than in the financial statement, the figures in the budget and the financial statement may not be comparable.

In order to compile statistics on financial statement estimates and budgets, Statistics Finland collects separate data from the municipal enterprises' financial statement estimates and budgets. This enables the combining of the municipalities' and their municipal enterprises' budgets and financial statement estimates into a comprehensive budget/financial statement estimate for the entire municipality, whose figures are comparable with those of the financial statement. In Statistics Finland's budget publications the budgets of municipalities and joint municipal boards are published without the budgets of enterprises following the municipal enterprise model. Combined budgets, or budget data comparable with financial statements, are also published on the Statistics Finland website.

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A municipal enterprise group refers to an economic unit formed by a municipality (head corporation) and one or more legally independent corporations, in which the municipality either alone or with other corporations belonging to the municipal enterprise group has the majority of votes in one or more of the corporations.

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Municipal tax is paid in municipal taxation in accordance with taxable income according to the price of the municipal tax rate (municipal income tax percentage) and church tax according to the price of the church tax rate imposed in the area of the parish.

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Municipal waste refers to waste generated in households and waste comparable to household waste generated in production, especially in the service industries. The general common feature of municipal waste is that it is generated in the consumption of final products in communities and is covered by municipal waste management systems.

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A mutual fund is divided into equal shares conferring equal rights to the fund's assets.

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A mutual indemnity insurance association is an insurance company based on the mutual responsibility of its shareholders, whose area of operations covers no more than 40 municipalities or which only practises insurance of fishing equipment. The articles of association of the association are ratified by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the association is entered into the Trade Register.

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Mutual insurance companies are either life insurance companies or indemnity insurance companies and mainly engage in life insurance activity (including pension insurance) or indemnity insurance activity as their name implies. The activities of insurance companies are supervised by the Insurance Inspection Authority.

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Mutual interest bodies, such as fishery collectives and road maintenance associations.

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