Births
Producer: Statistics Finland
Homepage: http://www.stat.fi/til/synt/index_en.html
Main topic: Population
Related topics:
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
European Statistical System (ESS): Yes
Description
The statistics on births contain all the children whose mother was permanently resident in Finland at the time of their birth. The statistics contain data on the child, mother and the mother’s spouse.
Data content
The statistics contain demographic data on live-born and stillborn children and their mothers. The variables included in the statistics on births include gender and 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. Additional variables in the statistics on stillbirths are duration of pregnancy and weight of foetus. A child is recorded in statistics as having been born in Finland if the mother is registered as permanently resident in Finland at the time of the birth even if she were abroad at that time.
The variables on mothers include age, number of children, successive number of child, marital status, nationality, language, country of birth, municipality of birth and municipality of residence, date of marriage and successive number of or marriage. If the mother of the child was married at the time of the birth, the same demographic data are available on the father as on the mother. The statistics do not contain data on the fathers of children born outside marriage.
The data on mothers are used to calculate parameters describing birth rate. These include general birth and fertility rates, age-specific fertility rates, total fertility rates by time period, age-specific fertility rates by cohort, total fertility rates by cohort and reproduction rates.
Classifications used
The data are available by a variety regional divisions based on municipalities. Since 1999, nationality, country of birth and language have been classified according to ISO standards. Prior to this, Statistics Finland’s own classifications were used. Age is classified according to 1 or 5-year cohorts.
The classification into regions and the statistical classification into municipalities have been used since 1997. The respective categories used prior to this were province and type of municipality. Since 1999, the regional classification entering into force at the beginning of the year following the statistical reference year has been applied in the statistics on births.
Data collection methods and data sources
Finnish population statistics are based on data derived from The Digital and Population data services Agency’s Population Information System. A unit operating in health care must notify the Population Information System about the live birth of a child.
The Population Information System does not contain data on stillbirths, on which information is obtained from the death certificates issued by physicians. The unit operating in health care or the physician concerned forwards the certificate to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare sends the certificate on to Statistics Finland.
Updating frequency
Final statistics are published once a year.
Time of completion or release
The final statistics for a calendar year are ready in April of the next calendar year unless otherwise stated. Preliminary data on the number of live births are released monthly in electronic format on Statistics Finland’s website page “Preliminary population statistics”. Final statistics on the number of births are released on Statistics Finland’s website in April.
Time series
Annual data on numbers of live births for the whole country are available in electronic format starting from year 1749.
Keywords
birth rate, children, fertility, increase of population, natality, population, population changes, vital statistics
Contact information
http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/synt/yht_en.html
Last updated 23.04.2020