Population structure
Producer: Statistics Finland
Homepage: http://
www.stat.fi/til/vaerak/index_en.html
Main topic: Population
Related topics:
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
European Statistical System (ESS): Yes
Description
These statistics on the structure of the population describe Finnish and foreign citizens permanently resident in Finland at the turn of the year. The statistics contain data on the population’s place of residence, age, native language, nationality and country of birth, as well as on the spouse, all children and parents of an individual person. The statistics also contain data on the day a person was married or divorced. The data are obtained from the Population Register Centre’s population information system.
Data content
The permanent resident population of Finland comprises the Finnish citizens and foreign citizens who reside permanently in Finland even if they were temporarily living abroad. A foreign national is included in statistics on the population of Finland if he or she intends to live or has lived in the country for at least 12 months. An asylum seeker is not included in the statistics on the resident population until the Directorate of Immigration has granted him or her a permanent residence permit.
The staff of foreign embassies, trade missions and consulates, their family members and personal employees included, are not counted among the resident population unless they are Finnish citizens. By contrast, the Finnish staff of Finnish embassies and trade missions abroad and persons serving in the UN peacekeeping forces are counted among the resident population.
The statistics contain data on the place of residence (domicile code) and its co-ordinates for each person. In addition, the information concerning each person comprise data on gender, time of birth, age, marital status, language, nationality and country of birth, as well as data on a possible spouse and all biological or adopted children, and a person’s parents. There is also information on a person’s possible date of marriage or divorce, when a person has become widowed, and on the ordinal number of his or her current marriage or registered partnership.
The data on individual units with identifiers are confidential.
Classifications used
The used age classification divides the population into either one-year of five-year cohorts. At a less detailed level, three age groups are used (0-14, 15-64 and 65-).
Since 1999, languages have been classified according to ISO standards. Statistics Finland’s own classifications were used prior to this.
Nationality and country of birth are classified by continent.
Data on the population are available by different regional divisions based on municipalities. Data by municipal sub-areas can also be supplied as a charged service. Data can also be produced by urban area, postal code area and by regional divisions based on map co-ordinates, e.g. as grid data.
Since the statistics of 31 December 1999, the division valid on the first day of the following year has been used as the regional division. On special order, data by municipalities merged at the turn of the year can also be supplied according to the regional division valid on the last day of the previous year before the merger.
Time series can be produced retrospectively from the FINREGION database by the regional division valid in the current year starting from 1975. Time series of municipalities of birth can be produced retrospectively by the regional division valid in the statistical reference year starting from the year 1990.
Data collection methods and data sources
The data are obtained from the Population Information System of The Digital and Population data services Agency according to the situation at the turn of the year.
Updating frequency
Statistics on the structure of the population are compiled annually according to the prevalent situation at the turn of the year.
Time of completion or release
Notifications about population changes having taken place in the previous year are received until the end of January. Data describing the population at the turn of the year are drawn from the Population Information System in February.
The population data file is completed during March of the year following the statistical reference year. The paper publication on population by municipality (Population by municipality and in size order) comes out in March at the same time as the data are published on Statistics Finland’s website. More information about the population structure is available from the publication “Population structure and changes by municipality”, published in June.
Time series
Data on the population are available since 1749. Published data on the size of population are available starting from 1865 by parish and from 1880 by municipality. Data by parish on the age, marital status and language of the population are available from the ten-year tables of the clergy up to the year 1940. Similar data by municipality have been produced from population censuses at ten-year intervals since 1950. Data on the population’s gender, age, marital status and language are available annually starting from 1970.
Annual data on the population by municipality are available in electronic format from the FINREGION database service starting from the year 1975. The time series in the free StatFin data service start from 1980.
Keywords
country of birth, dependency ratio, foreigners, language, nationality, population, population density, population structure
Contact information
http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/vaerak/yht_en.html
Last updated 23.04.2020