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Published: 30 May 2016

Number of families continues to grow slightly

According to Statistics Finland's data, there were 1,475,000 families in Finland at the end of 2015. The number has grown by 1,700 families from the previous year. Even though the number of all families has grown slightly, the number of families with underage children has decreased. This mainly indicates that the age group of children coming of age is larger than the new age groups being born. There were 571,000 families with underage children. A family with underage children has at least one child under the age of 18 living at home. All in all, the changes in the numbers of families are very small on an annual level.

Families by type in 1992–2015

1) Incl. registered partnership since 2002.

Number of families with a married couple and children is falling further

Sixty-five per cent of all families were families of married couples. The number of families with a married couple and children has decreased by close on six thousand families. The numbers of other family types have, however, grown that much that the number of all families is still growing.

Nine out of ten families with a married couple and children at the end of 2014 still remained a family with a married couple and children at the end of 2015. During 2015, the family type of one-tenth of families with a married couple and children changed. Around 30 000 new families with married couple and children were formed.

Twenty-three per cent were families of cohabiting couples and 12 per cent were one-parent families. There were 2,600 families of registered same-sex couples. People living alone numbered 1,112,000.

The average size of a family was 2.8. As late as in 1990, the average size was three persons. Altogether 74 per cent of the Finnish population, or 4,081,000 persons, belonged to a family. The share of persons who belong to a family has been falling steadily. As late as in 1990, their share of the population was still 82 per cent.

The share of families with underage children in all families decreases further

The number of families with underage children, 571,000, decreased by 2,100 families from the year before. The number has been falling slowly over the past ten years. Forty per cent of the population belonged to a family with children. The commonest family type, which 60 per cent of the families with children belong to, continued to be a married couple with children. Nineteen per cent of the families with children were families of cohabiting couples. There were almost equally many families of a mother and children, whose share was 18 per cent. The number of families with a father and children continued to be very low, three per cent. In 600 families with children the parents were a registered same-sex couple. Many factors have an effect on the number of families with children, such as the sizes of age groups being born and those turning 18, as well as international migration.

In 2015, there were a total of 1,053,000 underage children in families with children. Forty-three per cent had one child and 39 per cent had two children. Thirteen per cent of families with underage children had three children and five per cent at least four children aged under 18. The average number of children was 1.84. The figure has remained stable, although the number of children has declined.

As a result of the lower number of births in recent years, the number of families with small children has also gone down. There were 153,000 families with children aged under three. From 2011, the number has fallen by around six thousand.

The family statistics describe the size of families in Finland at a given moment and thus do not concern with the eventual number of children in families.

Every tenth underage child lives in a reconstituted family

On average, reconstituted families have slightly more children than families with children in general. The average number of children was 2.09. Around 59 per cent of the children were brought into the family by their mother. The share has remained at the same level for a quarter century. A reconstituted family is a family with at least one child aged under 18 of just one of the parents.

At the end of 2015, there were 52,000 reconstituted families. The number of reconstituted families increased slightly compared to the previous year. Roughly one-half of the parents of the reconstituted families were cohabiting and one-half were married.

Families by type in 1990–2015

Type of family	1990	1995	2000	2005	2010	2014	2015	Change  2014–2015
Families  total	1 365 341	1 382 970	1 401 963	1 426 002	1 455 073	1 473 666	1 475 335	1 669
Married  couple without  children	364 452	395 953	436 019	481 209	513 889	527 238	528 539	1 301
Married  couple with children	640 062	579 578	514 868	468 266	446 433	429 811	424 185	-5 626
Cohabiting  couple no children	123 471	135 996	160 132	180 590	195 967	211 673	215 620	3 947
Cohabiting  couple with  children	65 896	85 309	102 581	112 847	117 254	121 499	122 657	1 158
Mother and children	147 297	159 063	159 432	153 024	149 651	149 668	150 274	606
Father and children	24 161	27 071	28 931	29 238	30 278	31 342	31 452	110
Registered male  couple 1)	..	..	..	398	706	991	1 023	32
Registered female  couple 1)	..	..	..	430	895	1 444	1 585	141
Family  population	4 101 922	4 093 038	4 053 850	4 037 753	4 065 168	4 084 001	4 080 544	-3 457
Population 31.12.	4 998 478	5 116 829	5 181 115	5 255 580	5 375 276	5 471 753	5 487 308	15 555
Proportion  of family population	82,1	80,0	78,2	76,8	75,6	74,6	74,4	-0,2
Average size of family	3,00	2,96	2,89	2,83	2,79	2,77	2,77	0,0

1) Families of the type “registered couple with children” numbered 626 in 2015.

Source: Families 2015, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Pietiläinen 029 551 2798, Timo Nikander 029 551 3250, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Tables

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• Database tables and their variables
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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Families by type in 1950 - 2015 (30.5.2016)
• Appendix table 2. Familiy population and average size of family in 1950 - 2015 (30.5.2016)
• Appendix table 3. Families with underage children by type in 1950 - 2015 (30.5.2016)
• Appendix table 4. Reconstituted families 1990 - 2015 (30.5.2016)

Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Families by type and age of wife/mother in 2015 (families with father and children by age of father) (30.5.2016)
• Appendix figure 2. Families with underage children by type and age of mother in 2015 (families with father and children by age of father) (30.5.2016)
• Appendix figure 3. Structure of reconstituted families in 2015 (30.5.2016)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, families 2015 (30.5.2016)

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Updated 30.5.2016