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Published: 23 September 2016

One in ten of people aged 25 to 44 are of foreign background

According to Statistics Finland's statistics on population structure, every tenth of the persons aged 25 to 44 living permanently in Finland at the end of 2015 were of foreign background. In Greater Helsinki, one in five of persons aged 25 to 44 were already of foreign background.

Proportion of persons with foreign background in the population by age in 2015

In total, there were 339,925 persons with foreign background living permanently in Finland at the end of 2015, which is 6.2 per cent of the population. Of these, 286,803 persons were first generation immigrants that had been born abroad and 53,122 persons were second generation immigrants that had been born in Finland.

One in five of under school-age children are of foreign background in Greater Helsinki

The share of under school-age children (aged 0 to 6) with foreign background was 7.9 per cent at the end of 2015. One in five of under school-age children are already of foreign background in Greater Helsinki Of all people with foreign background, more than one-half lived in Uusimaa. Of second generation immigrants with foreign background, 61 per cent lived in Uusimaa.

Examined by municipality, the share of people with foreign background among Mainland Finland municipalities was highest in Vantaa, 15.8 per cent, and Espoo and Helsinki, 14.3 per cent.

Of all persons with foreign background, 57 per cent were of European background.

Examined by continent, 57 per cent of all persons with foreign background were of European background. The second largest group were people of Asian background, whose share was 25 per cent, and the third largest were people of African background, 13 per cent.

The share of Europeans among persons with foreign background born abroad was 59 per cent, that of Asians 25 per cent, and the share of Africans was 11 per cent. The share of Europeans among persons with foreign background born in Finland was 49 per cent, that of Asians 25 per cent, and the share of Africans was 22 per cent.

The largest group by far among people with foreign background is those whose background country is the former Soviet Union or Russia. There were 79,016 such persons in Finland at the end of 2015, representing 23 per cent of all people with foreign background. The next biggest groups were people of Estonian background, 46,960 persons, of Somalian background, 17,761 persons, and of Iraqi background, 13,967 persons.

Largest groups of foreign background among the Finnish population on 31 December 2015

Persons with no religious affiliation already number over 1.3 million

The Population Information System includes data on whether a person is a member of a religious community registered in Finland. The number of persons with no religious affiliation exceeded the one million mark in 2010. At the end of 2015, the number of persons with no religious affiliation has already exceeded 1.3 million.

Thus, every fourth person in Finland is not a member of a religious community registered in Finland. Twenty-eight per cent of men had no religious affiliation and 21 per cent of women.

Share of persons not belonging to religious communities by gender in 1990 to 2015

Share of persons with no religious affiliation is highest in Uusimaa and lowest in South Ostrobothnia

There are also relatively large regional differences in being a member of a religious community. In the region of Uusimaa, the share of population with no religious affiliation was 34 per cent, while in South Ostrobothnia the respective share was 12 per cent.

Of the foreign-language speaking population resident in Finland, 84 per cent are not members of any religious community registered in Finland.

At the end of 2015, altogether 73 per cent of the population belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. One per cent were members of the Orthodox Church of Finland and 1.6 per cent belonged to some other religious communities. At the end of 1980, altogether 90 per cent of the population belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

Source: Population Structure 2015, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Markus Rapo 029 551 3238, vaesto.tilasto@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Married women by duration and order of marriage 31.12.2015 (23.9.2016)
• Appendix table 2. Females aged 15 - 80 by number of live-born children 31.12.2015 (23.9.2016)
• Appendix table 3. Males aged 15 - 80 by number of live-born children 31.12.2015 (23.9.2016)
• Appendix table 4. Women by age, number of children and the proportion of birth 31.12.2015 (23.9.2016)
• Appendix table 5. Males by age and number of children 31.12.2015 (23.9.2016)
• Appendix table 6. Population by religious community in 2000 to 2015 (23.9.2016)

Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Swedish-speakers' and foreign-language speakers proportion of the population in 1900 - 2015 (23.9.2016)
• Appendix figure 2. Finnish citizens with dual nationality in 2000 to 2015 (23.9.2016)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description: Population structure 2015 (23.9.2016)

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Updated 23.09.2016