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8. Over one half of persons aged 60 have underage grandchildren

At the end of 2011, children aged 0 to 17 belonging to the population of Finland had a total of 468,000 grandfathers and 597,000 grandmothers. There are grandparents per 2.9 underage children, on average. Twenty-eight per cent of men are grandfathers of underage children, and one-third of women are grandmothers.

Information concerning grandparents was produced from the data on underage children generated by combining register data. Corresponding information was produced for the first time in 2007, when information on grandparents concerning the year 2005 was published in the Children in Finland 2007 publication written jointly by Statistics Finland and Stakes, the National Research Centre for Welfare and Health.

Thirty-nine per cent of children aged under 18 have all four grandparents. Six per cent of under-18-year-olds have no grandparents at all. Fifty-eight per cent of children aged under one have four grandparents. In contrast, only around every fourth child aged 14 still has his or her all four grandparents.

Figure 17. Proportion of grandparents of underage children among women and men in the age group in 2011, %

One-half of men aged 60 are grandfathers of underage children. Nearly 60 per cent of women of the same age are already grandmothers to under 18-year-olds. There have not been many changes in the proportions since 2005.

One-half of men aged 60 are grandfathers of underage children. Nearly 60 per cent of women of the same age are already grandmothers to under 18-year-olds. There have not been many changes in the proportions since 2005.

The proportion of grandfathers among their age group's men grows more slowly than that of grandmothers among women. The proportion of grandfathers is at its highest for men aged 70. Sixty-seven per cent of the age group were grandfathers of underage children, which is nearly as many as grandmothers among women. In 2005 the proportion of grandfathers of underage children was also at its highest for men at 70, when the proportion of grandfathers was 68 per cent for men in the age group.

Source: Population and Cause of Death Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Pietiläinen 09 1734 2798, Timo Nikander 09 1734 3250, vaesto.tilasto@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 9.11.2012