[Source documentation contains information about data creation and concepts available online from Statistics Finland.]

[1] Population census

In Finland the population census and the related count of dwellings and real estate are carried out every ten years in accordance with the Population Census Act. The year 2010 was an international census year: population censuses are conducted globally in nearly all countries of the world basing on the 2010 data. The population censuses were conducted for the first time with harmonized contents in all EU Member States.

In Finland the complete set of statistics on the 2010 Population Census contains data describing the population structure, families, dwellings and housing conditions, buildings and free-time residences, and employment. Population censuses are drawn in Finland entirely from registers and administrative files. The reference point of time of the census is 31 December 2010. Results from the Finnish population census were published in related statistics between 2011 and 2012.

Population census statistics
The complete set of statistics on population censuses contains data describing the population structure, families, dwellings and housing conditions, buildings and free-time residences, and employment. The data on population censuses are released according to the release timetable of statistics.

[2] Buildings and free-time residences
The statistics on buildings and free-time residences are produced annually and describe the existing stock and number of buildings and free-time residences on the last day of the year.

Description
The statistics on buildings and free-time residences are produced annually and describe the existing stock and number of buildings and free-time residences on the last day of the year. Light-structured shelters and kiosks, buildings used for agricultural production only, or separate sauna or utility buildings of the residential buildings included in the building stock. Free-time residences are not included in the building stock. A free-time residence refers to a residential building intended for free-time use that is permanently constructed or erected on its site, or to a residential building that is used as a holiday or free-time dwelling. Rental holiday cottages of enterprises engaged in the accommodation industry, buildings of holiday villages and buildings on garden allotments are not classified as free-time residences. Statistics on buildings and free-time residences can be produced by all regional divisions based on municipalities or co-ordinates, as well as by postal code area. Statistics Finland receives most its data on the building stock from the population information system of the Population Register Centre, into which municipal building inspection authorities report data concerning buildings that are subject to building permits. The statistics constitute total data.

Data content
Building stock can be described by intended use of buildings (residential building, commercial building, office building, etc.), year of construction, floor area, construction material and location. Free-time residences can be described by, e.g., year of construction, floor area, ownership and location. Unit-level data must not be disclosed by virtue of the Statistics Act.

Classifications used
The classifications used in the statistics on building stock include classification of buildings by intended use (residential, commercial, office, etc.). The statistics on buildings and free-time residences are compiled by all regional divisions based on municipalities, such as whole country, province, region, sub-regional unit and municipality. Data can also be produced by postal code area and by divisions based on map co-ordinates, such as municipal sub-regions.

Data collection methods and data sources
Statistics on buildings and free-time residences are mainly compiled from data obtainable from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre.

Updating frequency
The statistics are produced yearly. The data describe the situation on the last day of the year.

Time of completion or release
Basic data are ready in May.

Time series
The data have collected in population censuses in 1950, 1960, 1970, 1975 and 1980. From 1985 to 2007 the data were published annually separately in the statistics on building stock and free-time residences. As from 2008 these statistics have been combined into a single set of statistics on buildings and free-time residences.

Keywords
Blocks of flats, building stock, buildings, construction, detached houses, dwellings, free-time residences, house construction, housing, single-family houses, terraced houses, vacation homes

Concepts and definitions

Building
A building refers to any independent structure permanently constructed or erected on its site. It has its own entrance and contains covered space intended for different purposes, usually enclosed within outer walls or walls separating it from other structures (buildings).
Caves and other subterranean spaces which are mainly enclosed within rock or similar walls and/or which do not contain structures comparable to the interior structures of buildings proper, for example underground oil tanks, are not buildings.
Stalls, kiosks, etc. that do not contain space separated by closed walls, and transportable caravans, ships, etc. are not classified as buildings.

The building stock statistics do not include:

except in cases where such buildings are occupied or contain business premises.

The data on buildings come from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre.

Building material
The building material refers to the material from which the vertical supporting structures of the building are mainly made.

The classification is as follows:

Free-time residence
A free-time residence refers to a recreational building constructed permanently on the site of its location or to a residential building that is used as a holiday dwelling. Holiday cottages serving business purposes, buildings in holiday villages and allotment garden cottages are not counted as free-time residences.
Free-time residences comprise all buildings the intended use of which on 31 December was as a free-time residential building or which on the said date were used as holiday residences.
Free-time residences are not included in the building stock. The floor area of free-time residences refers to the gross floor area of the whole building.
The data on free-time residences are obtained of the Population Information System, maintained by building project notices from municipal building supervision authorities.

Gross floor area
The gross floor area of a building comprises the floor areas of the different storeys and the area of attic or basement storeys in which there are dwelling or working rooms or other space conforming to the principal intended use of the building.
The gross floor area is the horizontal area enclosed by the outer surfaces of the walls of the storeys or their imagined continuation for openings and decorations on the surface of the outer walls.

Holiday resident
The number of holiday residents by municipality has been counted from the total number of persons in the household-dwelling units of the free-time residence owners. If the same person owns more than one freetime residence in the same municipality, the persons in that household-dwelling unit have been taken into account only once. If the household-dwelling unit owns a freetime residence in more than one municipality the said persons have been counted as holiday residents in both municipalities.
When counting the number of holiday residents it has not been possible to take account of the free-time residences owned by death estates or foreigners, or of those in joint ownership.

Intended use of building
The intended use of a building is determined according to the purpose for which the largest part of the gross floor area of the building is used.

The categories are as follows:

The classification of the intended use of buildings is given in Statistics Finland's Handbook Classification of Buildings 1994. Not all the classes in the building classification are included in the Statitics Finland's building stock.

Locality
An urban settlement is a cluster of dwellings with at least 200 inhabitants. The delimitation is based on the population information of the previous year. Urban settlements are defined and delimited in co-operation with the Finnish Environment Institute using geographic information methods that utilise the building and population data of Statistics Finland's 250 m x 250 m grid data. The population size of grids containing buildings and their neighbouring grids, as well as the number of buildings and their floor area, are reviewed in the definition. From the uniform clusters of dwellings generated in the defining stage, the ones with at least 200 inhabitants are selected.

Number of storeys
The number of storeys in a building consists of all storeys that are primarily above ground level and in which there are habitable rooms or office space or other space conforming to the intended use of the building. If the number of storeys varies in different parts of the building, the number usually refers to the largest number of storeys in the building.
For buildings completed after 1980, the number of storeys is expressed as an average number that takes into account the whole building if the share of the gross floor area of a certain storey out of the gross floor area of the main storeys is very small. For instance, if a large industrial unit is mainly a one-storey building, but office space is located on three storeys, then the number of storeys is given as one.

Sub-area (of municipality)
Municipal sub-areas are formed of operationally functional wholes defined by the municipality itself, which are the basis of the municipality's regional planning and monitoring. Statistics Finland is responsible for digitising new sub-area boundaries and for maintaining name files. Municipalities have the opportunity to check their sub-area division once a year.
The division into sub-areas is a hierarchical three-level classification which has a 1-digit major area level, a 2-digit statistical area level and a 3-digit small area level. Sub-areas are numbered consecutively using these three hierarchical levels. The 6-digit sub-area code is bound to the 3-digit municipality code, so the sub-area code consists of a total of nine characters.

Type of building
Residential buildings are classified according to type of building as follows:

Type of ownership of building
Buildings are divided into the following categories by tenure status:

Year of construction
The year of construction refers to the year in which the building was completed and was ready for use. If the building was completed prior to 1980, the year of renovation may have been entered as the year of construction.

Dwellings and housing conditions
The statistics on dwellings and housing conditions are produced annually and describe the existing stock, number of dwellings, and housing conditions of household-dwelling units on the last day of the year.

Description
The statistics on dwellings and housing conditions are produced annually and describe the existing stock, number of dwellings and housing conditions of household-dwelling units on the last day of the year. The dwelling stock comprises both permanently occupied dwellings and dwellings and flats without permanent occupants. Statistics Finland receives most of the data on dwellings from the population information system of the Population Register Centre, into which municipal building inspection authorities report data concerning buildings and dwellings that are subject to building permits. All persons residing permanently in the same dwelling form a household-dwelling unit. The statistics provide data on the dwelling stock by variables like tenure status, type of building, number of rooms and amenities. Housing conditions are described by variables such as structure and stage in life of household-dwelling unit and age of its members. Statistics on the dwellings and housing conditions can be produced according to all regional divisions based on municipalities and co-ordinates, as well as by postal code area. The statistics on the dwellings and housing conditions constitute total data.

Data content
Statistics Finland receives most of the data on dwellings from the population information system of the Population Register Centre, into which municipal building inspection authorities report data concerning buildings and dwellings that are subject to building permits. Residential homes are generally not included in the dwelling stock. A dwelling refers to a room or a suite of rooms, which is intended for year-round habitation, is furnished with a cooking area and has its own entrance. The dwelling stock can be described by the type of house (detached houses, attached houses, blocks of flats), type of dwelling (one-room, two-room dwelling, etc.), tenure status (rental, owner-occupied dwelling) and by area.
The population for the statistics on household-dwelling units and housing conditions is formed by persons permanently resident in actual dwellings, i.e. the so-called dwelling population. Persons who, according to the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre, are permanently institutionalized, living in residential homes and abroad and homeless people are not included in the dwelling population. Likewise, persons living in buildings classified as residential homes whose living quarters do not meet the definition of dwelling are not included. Household-dwelling units can be described according to the household-dwelling unit's structure, number of persons, stage in life, income and age of members. Housing conditions of household-dwelling units can be described by combining data on dwellings with data on the household-dwelling units living in them, e.g. when describing housing density. Unit-level data must not be disclosed by virtue of the Statistics Act.

Classifications used
The classifications used in the statistics on the dwelling stock are i.e. the classification of buildings, or the classification of buildings by intended use (residential buildings: detached houses, attached houses and blocks of flats), the household-dwelling unit's stage in life and different regional divisions based on municipalities.
The statistics are produced by regional divisions based on the grouping of municipalities, such as the whole country, province, region, sub-regional unit and municipality. The data can also be produced by postal code area and by regional divisions based on map co-ordinates, such as classifications of municipalities' sub-areas.

Data collection methods and data sources
The statistical data on dwelling and household-dwelling units are mainly compiled from the data of the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre and the Tax Administration's registers.

Updating frequency
The statistics are produced yearly. The data describe the situation on the last day of the year.

Time of completion or release
The basic data, such as building type of the dwelling, occupancy rate, standard of equipment and the structure of the household-dwelling unit, are completed in May, data on the dwelling's tenure status in October and data on stage in life, reference person and income based on income data with a lag of one year in March.

Time series
The data have collected in population censuses in 1950, 1960, 1970, 1975 and 1980. From 1985 to 2007 the data were published annually separately in the statistics on dwelling stock and household-dwelling units and housing conditions. As from 2008 these statistics have been combined into a single set of statistics on dwellings and housing conditions.

Keywords
Dwelling density, dwelling stock, dwellings, flats, household-dwelling units, housing, level of housing, living conditions, occupancy rate, owner-occupied dwellings, rented dwellings, right of occupancy dwellings

Concepts and definitions

Average size of dwelling
The average size of dwellings is obtained by dividing the total floor area of dwellings by their number.

Consumption unit
Income and consumption expenditure calculated per consumption unit can be used to compare households of different sizes and structures with each other. There are several different ways of calculating consumption units. From 2002, the income distribution statistics and the Household Budget Survey have used the OECD's adjusted consumption unit scale recommended by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, where

The selected consumption unit scale has a significant effect on income levels and on placement of different population groups in the income distribution.

Consumption unit (OECD)
The size of the consumption unit represented by the household-dwelling unit is indicated as the sum of the weights of its members.

In accordance with international recommendations the value of each member of a household-dwelling unit is determined as follows:

If all persons in the household-dwelling unit are aged under 18, the weight of the first member is 1.0 and that of subsequent members 0.5.

Dwelling
A dwelling refers to a room or a suite of rooms which is intended for year-round habitation; is furnished with a kitchen, kitchenette or cooking area; and has a floor area of at least 7 square metres. Every dwelling must have its own entrance. A single-family house may be entered through an enclosed porch or veranda. If a dwelling is entered through the premises of another dwelling, it is not regarded as a separate dwelling but instead those two constitute one dwelling.

Dwelling density
Dwelling density is the ratio between the size of the dwelling and the number of persons living in it. Dwelling size is expressed either as the number of rooms or as the floor area of the dwelling.

Dwelling occupancy
Dwelling units are classified according to their occupancy status into dwellings permanently occupied, dwellings temporarily occupied and dwellings not in residential use:

The Population Information System of the Population Register Centre's buildings and dwellings data include details on units that in reality are not in residential use or that are incorrectly registered. Such dwellings are not included in the dwelling stock statistics in cases where it has been possible to infer that they are errors or that they should be removed on the basis of other information.

Dwelling population
The dwelling population comprises those persons who according to the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre resided permanently in dwellings on 31 December. Persons permanently institutionalised, living in residential homes and abroad and homeless people are not included in the dwelling population. Likewise, persons living in buildings classified as residential homes whose living quarters do not meet the definition of dwelling, are not included.
The basic family population differs from the dwelling population in that it also includes those living in residential homes.

Facilities
Data on the facilities of dwellings and buildings are derived from the dwelling and building data of the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre.
Facilities in a dwelling:

The data on dwelling facilities have been used in determining the standard of equipment of the dwelling.

Facilities in a building:

Floor area
The floor area of a dwelling is measured from the inner surfaces of its walls. The figure includes the floor areas of the utility room, walk-in cupboard, bathroom, hobby room, sauna, washroom and dressing room, as well as the floor areas of rooms used for working unless used by hired employees.
The following are not counted in the dwelling's floor area: garage, cellar, sauna facilities in an unfurnished basement, unheated storage space, balcony, porch, veranda and attic space unless used as a living space.
The floor area of a freetime residence refers to its gross floor area.

Heating fuel/ source of heat
Heating fuel or source of heat refers to the main fuel or energy source used in heating a building. There are also data on the heating fuel of dwellings. Data on the heating fuel have been obtained from the Population Information System, which receives them from municipal building supervision authorities.
Information about change in heating fuel is mainly transmitted to the Population Information System only if such alterations have been done to a building which require a building permit.

The classification is as follows:

Heating system
Heating system refers to the main method of heating used in the heating of a building. There are also data on the heating fuel of dwellings. Data on the heating fuel have been obtained from the Population Information System, which receives them from municipal building supervision authorities by way of building project notices. Information about change in the heating system is only transmitted to the Population Information System if such alterations have been done to a building which require a building permit.

The classification is as follows:

In a water central heating system, the building is heated with circulating water, and in an air central heating system with circulating air. In direct electric heating the building is heated with the aid of a fixed radiator, etc. connected directly to the electricity network.
In stove heating, heating takes place by burning wood or other fuels in a fireplace (stove) that stores heat. Stove heating also includes electric heating reservoirs, separate fixed oil heaters and heatpreserving fireplaces. Stoves used for heating saunas are not regarded as heating equipment.

Household-dwelling unit
A household-dwelling unit consists of the permanent occupants of a dwelling. Persons who according to the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre are institutionalised, or are homeless, or are abroad, or are registered as unknown, do not constitute household-dwelling units. Additionally, persons living in buildings classified as residential homes do not form household-dwelling units if their living quarters do not meet the definition of a dwelling. In the 1980 census household-dwelling units were also formed of these persons.
The concept of household-dwelling unit was adopted in the 1980 census. In earlier years the concept of household was used. A household consisted of family members and other persons living together who made common provision for food. A subtenant providing for his or her own food constituted a separate household. Since 1980 subtenants have been classified in the same household-dwelling units with other occupants.

Kitchen
A kitchen is a room furnished for cooking. A space furnished for cooking measuring less than 7 square metres is a kitchenette or cooking area.

Level of housing
The occupancy rate and standard of equipment of the dwelling together describe the level of housing of the household-dwelling unit.

The classification of occupancy rate:

(Kitchen is not included in the number of rooms from 1989 onwards.)

Standard of equipment:

As from 2005 only "High standard of equipment" and "Other or unknown level of equipment" are used.

Network connection
The following network connections are identified for a building:

Occupancy rate
The classification of occupancy rate:

Overcrowding
According to the norms below, a dwelling is over-crowded if it has

The norms applied in the statistics have changed over the decades. Norms 1 and 2 were used in the 1970 and 1975 population censuses. Data based on norm 3 have been produced since 1980. Norm 4 was first introduced in the 1990 census. Norm 4 has also been used in the level of housing classification since the 1990 census. Prior to that norm 3 was used.

Residential home
A residential home refers to a building intended for dormitory accommodation. Residents share the same kitchen, living lounge and/or washing facilities. This type of residential home does not normally have separate dwelling units proper.
In terms of structural engineering a residential home hardly differs from an accommodation building. A residential home is intended for specific groups of people, such as the elderly, disabled, etc. Ordinary residential dwellings built for these groups with no special uses of space (communal kitchens, etc.) are not residential homes.

A dwelling unit within a building classified as a residential home is regarded as a normal dwelling if the dwelling has

Dwellings in residential homes are not classified as a separate category, but they are counted as part of the regular housing stock. Dwellings in residential homes that do not meet the above conditions are not included in the dwelling stock statistics.

Room and number of rooms
A room is a space with one or more windows that has a floor area of at least 7 square metres and an average height of at least 2 metres. A hall, porch, bed recess, etc. are not counted as rooms. Kitchen is not normally counted in the number of rooms.

Stage in life
The classification of stages in life is used to distinguish between the stages of a household-dwelling unit, which usually differ in terms of income and consumption. The classification is based on type of household-dwelling unit, age of reference person and age of children.
The household-dwelling unit's stage in life is described by the age of the reference person in cases where the household-dwelling unit does not comprise a family (single-person households, non-family households comprising at least two persons) or where the family consists of a married or cohabiting couple without children. The stage in life of a family with children is determined by the age of the children belonging to the household-dwelling unit. Since 1993 families consisting of a cohabiting couple with children have been classified separately from families consisting of a married couple with children.

Standard of equipment
As from 2005, only two categories are used to describe the standard of equipment:

In the previous years, three categories have been used to describe the standard of equipment in a dwelling:

Structure of household-dwelling unit
Household-dwelling units are divided according to their structure into two categories:

Family household-dwelling units comprise:

Other household-dwelling units comprise:

Tenure status
Dwellings are classified according to tenure status as follows:

Owner-occupied dwelling

Rented dwelling

Right of occupancy dwelling
Other tenure status

Tenure status unknown

In the dwelling stock statistics the tenure status is mainly defined for permanently occupied dwellings.

[4] Educational structure of population
The statistics on the educational structure of the population describe the post-comprehensive school educational qualifications and degrees attained by the population aged 15 and over.

Description
The statistics on the educational structure of the population describe the post-comprehensive school educational qualifications and degrees attained by the population aged 15 and over. Besides diverse data describing education, the statistics contain information on the age, gender, native language, nationality and migration of attainers of educational qualifications and degrees.
The data are based on Statistics Finland's Register of Completed Education and Degrees. Completers of education and degrees are classified by level of education according to the latest/highest vocational qualification. In accordance with the Statistics Act, the personal data from which these statistics are compiled are confidential. As a rule, the statistics produced from them are public.

Data content
The statistics contain data on completers of upper secondary general schools, vocational educational institutes, polytechnics and universities, as well as attainers of initial, further and specialist vocational qualifications through skills examinations. The Register of Completed Education and Degrees is based on the data on educational qualifications and degrees collected in connection with the population census of 1970, which are updated annually.

Classifications used
The data in the statistics are classified by the fields and levels of education in Statistics Finland's, the Educational Administration's and international classifications of education, classifications describing types of educational institutions and diverse regional and demographic classifications.

Data collection methods and data sources
Data on matriculation examinations are obtained from the Matriculation Examination Board. Data on vocational qualifications are received from organizers of education. Data on universities of applied sciences and universities derive from the national database of higher education institutions. Data on qualifications completed abroad are obtained from the Finnish National Board of Education, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, and the Ministry of Labour's Register of Jobseekers. Data on population changes derive from the Population Register Centre.

Data collections
Data on students and qualifications attained in vocational education in educational institutions during the calendar year.
Participants and/or completers of a qualification in apprenticeship training in the calendar year.

Updating frequency
The statistics are produced annually.

Time of completion or release
The statistics are completed in November of the year following the statistical reference year.

Time series
The Register of Completed Education and Degrees is based on the data on educational qualifications and degrees collected in connection with the population census of 1970, which are updated annually.

Keywords
Degrees, education, graduates, level of education, qualifications

Concepts and definitions

Educational structure of the population
Educational structure of the population describes distribution of the population aged 15 and over to attainers of primary, secondary and tertiary level qualifications and degrees. Attainers of tertiary degrees are further divided into attainers of lowest level tertiary, lower university level, higher university level and doctorate level degrees.

Educational system
The Finnish educational system is comprised of the following:
Pre-primary education is provided in Finland to 6-year-old children, usually at children's day care homes. Some 6-year-old children receive pre-primary education in comprehensive schools. Attendance of pre-primary education has been compulsory since 2015.
Comprehensive school education is general knowledge education provided for entire age cohorts. All children permanently resident in Finland must attend compulsory education. Compulsory education starts in the year of the child's seventh birthday.
Compulsory education finishes when the syllabus of comprehensives school education has been completed (9-year comprehensive school), or 10 years from the start of compulsory education. In exceptional cases compulsory education may start already at the age of six and last 11 years due to a disability or illness. A student who has received a leaving certificate from comprehensive school in the same year or in the year before it may continue to attend optional additional education (10th grade).
Post-comprehensive school education, or upper secondary general education and vocational education represent secondary level of education. Upper secondary general school education is education leading to a matriculation examination. Its scope is three years and it gives general eligibility to further education. Vocational education can be either educational institution-based or apprenticeship training. In apprenticeship training, most of the studying is comprised of learning through practical work tasks at a workplace. The qualifications are initial vocational qualifications attained in three years, which also give general eligibility to further polytechnic or university studies.
Further and specialist vocational qualifications represent further vocational education. They, as well as initial vocational qualifications can be attained in a skills examination that can be taken irrespective of the way of acquisition of professional skills, and in which skills can be proven on the basis of preparatory education for a skills examination or work experience.
Attainment of university of applied sciences degrees takes 3.5 to 4.5 years and higher university of applied sciences degrees requiring work practice 1-1.5 years. Attainment of lower university degrees takes three years while higher university degrees take two years longer. Attainers of higher level university degrees may continue their studies to licentiate and doctorate level degrees.

Level of education
In the statistics on the educational structure of the population, the population's level of education is measured with the average length of the highest level of completed education per capita. For example, level of education indicator 246 means that the theoretic duration of education per capita is 2.5 years after completion of comprehensive school education. The population's level of education is calculated from the population aged 20 and over. This is because many under the age of 20 have not yet completed their studies. The measure of level of education allows easy comparisons between regions in levels of education and monitoring of temporal changes.
Up to the end of 1997, the population's level of education was calculated from the levels of educational qualifications and degrees attained by the population aged 15 and over. The indicator of level of education can range from 150 to 800. The higher the indicator figure, the higher the level of education. In the group with level of education indicator 150, everybody has completed only elementary school, middle school or comprehensive school, whereas in the group with level of education indicator 800, everyone holds a licentiate or doctorate level degree.

Population
The resident population of Finland on 31 December is derived from the Population Information System maintained by the Population Register Centre. Since the data for 1993, Statistics Finland and the Population Register Centre have had the same reference period, the turn of the year at midnight, which means that the number of population has been the same.

Qualification/Degree
In statistics on the educational structure of the population, transition form school to further education and work and progress of studies attainers of qualifications or degrees refer to completers of matriculation examination, international matriculation examinations (IB, Reifeprüfung or Gymnasieexamen examination), and attainers of vocational qualifications, university of applied sciences degrees, higher university of applied sciences degrees or university degrees by the end of the statistical reference year. Attainers of qualifications or degrees also include attainers of qualifications or degrees in the armed services, frontier guard service or abroad. One qualification or degree per person is included in statistics: vocational qualification attained at the highest level of education/most recently attained.
The data are obtained from Statistics Finland's Register of Completed Education and Degrees. Data can only be entered into the Register for persons who have a Finnish personal ID number. For this reason data on the qualifications or degrees of persons without a personal ID number, e.g. many foreign persons, are missing from the Register.

Tertiary degree
In the statistics on the educational structure of the population, tertiary degrees comprise all lower, higher and doctorate level tertiary degrees.
Up to the end of 2001, only degrees obtained at universities and experimental or permanent university of applied sciences in accordance with the decree on universities (464/1998) were included in tertiary degrees.

[5] Employment
Employment statistics are annual statistics providing data by region on the population's economic activity and employment.

Description
Employment statistics are annual statistics providing data by region on the population's economic activity and employment. The population for the statistics is the permanently resident population in the country on the last day of the year. The data are mainly derived from administrative registers and statistical data files. The unit-specific data of the employment statistics are confidential by virtue of the Statistics Act. Data can be compiled by all regional divisions based on municipalities and co-ordinates and by postal code areas.

Data content
The produced data describe the population's main type of activity, occupation, status in occupation, number of workplaces, location of workplace, and education and income of the population and labor force.
The reference period of the statistics is the last week of the year, but the statistics also contain data accumulated during the statistical reference year (e.g. income data, months of employment and unemployment). Data on occupation and socio-economic group are available for the years 1990, 1993, 1995 and 2000. Data on occupation and socio-economic group have been produced yearly since 2004.
From 1993 onwards, preliminary data have also been produced on employment. However, when using these preliminary data it should be borne in mind that due to their incompleteness, the number of employed persons in the preliminary data has deviated until the end of 2005 by plus or minus 1 per cent from the final figures for the whole country. At present, the variation is 0.2 to 0.3 per cent. Variation may be larger than this by municipality.

Classifications used
The statistics are compiled by all regional divisions based on municipalities, such as the whole country, province, region, sub-regional unit and municipality. Data can also be produced by postal code area and divisions based on map co-ordinates, e.g. by municipal sub-area. Apart from regional classifications, classifications of industries, sectors, occupations, levels of education and socio-economic groups are also used in these statistics.

Data collection methods and data sources
The statistics are based on around 30 administrative and statistical data files. The most important data sources are:

In addition, the statistics are included in two different enterprise data collections: the inquiry on establishment structure and personnel and the collection of data on occupations.

Data collections

Data collection on occupations

Inquiry on establishment structure and personnel

Inquiry on local government sector wages and salaries

Updating frequency
The statistics are produced yearly. The data describe the situation on the last day of the year.

Time of completion or release
Preliminary data are completed around 12 months from the end of the reference period. Of the final data, those on the population's main activity and occupational status are completed approximately 14 months and the remainder 21 to 22 months after the end of the reference period.

Time series
The population and definitions of the employment statistics have remained more or less the same since 1987, when regular production of the statistics was started. However, the classifications used in the statistics have changed along with years. For example, the Standard Industrial Classification was amended in 1993, 2001 and 2007 and the Classification of Occupations in 1995 and 2010. The changes in the classifications have an effect on the comparability of the years, because it was not possible to build complete conversion keys between all the classifications.

Keywords
Dependency ratio, employed persons, employment, entrepreneurs, foreigners, industrial structure, industries, labour force, nationality, occupations, population, private sector, public sector, risk of unemployment, socio-economic group, status in employment, unemployed, unemployment, workplaces

Additional information
The data are also published in Statistics Finland's StatFin and Population data services online. . In addition, special compilations and material for research purposes are also made from the employment statistics to customers' requirements.

Concepts and definitions

Active population
The labour force (active population) comprises all persons who were either employed or unemployed during the last week of the year. Participation in the labour force is determined on the basis of information derived from various registers.

Commuting
Commuting refers to going to work outside the area where a person is resident. Net commuting refers to the difference between the numbers working outside the area and the numbers coming into the area to work from elsewhere. A positive net commuting value indicates that the number of people coming into the area to work exceeds the number of those going to work elsewhere from it. Net commuting can also be expressed as a value between two individual areas.

Conscientious objector
Conscientious objectors are defined as people who according to the data of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy have been doing their non-military service during the survey week.
Community service is based on the national defence obligation and also on the freedom of religion and conscience set out in the Constitution of Finland. A person liable for military service can, on serious grounds of conscience founded on religious or ethical conviction, be exempted from military service upon application, at which time he is ordered into non-military service, which is a substitute for military service in peacetime under the Finnish Conscription Act (1950/452).

Conscript
Conscripts are defined as persons who according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces have been doing their military service during the last week of the year. Persons taking part in refresher courses during the reference week are not regarded as conscripts.

Dependency ratio (economic)
Population structure is measured with the so-called economic dependency ratio which gives the numbers of persons unemployed or outside the labour force per one employed persons.

Employed
The employed labour force includes all persons aged 18 to 74 who were in gainful employment in the last week of the year and were not registered as unemployed job seekers in the job seeker register of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment or performing mandatory military or non-military service. Data on employment are based on the information of employment pension authorities and the tax administration.

Employed labour force resident in the area
Employed labour force resident in the area refers to all employed persons in the area concerned irrespective of the location of their workplaces. Employed labour force resident in the area forms the so-called employed night population.

Employee
Wage and salary earners (employees) are defined as persons aged between 18 and 74 who, according to the register data of employment statistics, have a valid employment relationship or employment pension insurance in the last week of the year. Persons employed by labour policy measures (other than business start-up allowance) in the last week of the year are also defined as wage and salary earners. It is required that the person defined as a wage and salary earner has received wage and salary income during the year, and that the person is not performing military or non-military service or has not been an unemployed job seeker in the job seeker register on the last day of the year.
If the person has self-employed person's pension insurance valid at the same time as the employment relationship, the person is defined as a wage and salary earner if his/her wage and salary income generated during the year is higher than his/her entrepreneurial income and he/she has not been a self-employed person in the statistics in the previous year.
If the person is not a self-employed person, unemployed, student, pensioner, performing non-military service or military service and his/her wage and salary income exceeds a defined income limit, he/she is defined as a wage and salary earner even if according to the employment relationship data, he/she did not have a valid employment relationship.

Employer sector
The classification of employer sectors describes the ownership and corporate form of the workplace. It can be used for distinguishing between the public and private sector.

The classification used is as follows:

The information on the employer sector is based on data from Statistics Finland's Business Register on the type of owner and juridical (legal) form. The classifications relating to these are presented in the publication 'Classification of sectors'.

Employment rate
The ratio of employed persons to the same-age population. In the employment statistics, the employment rate is calculated from the population aged 18 to 64.

Inactive population
The inactive population refers to persons who were not employed or unemployed at the end of the year.

Legal form
Legal form identifies the legal status of a legal person. The classification of legal forms is based on the company forms of the Trade Register and on the requirements of taxation legislation. The legal forms of enterprises and corporations are recorded in the Business Information System.
Statistics Finland's classification of legal forms is based on this system and on the Tax Administration's coding of legal forms. Some of the Tax Administration's categories have been combined in Statistics Finland's classification.

Main type of activity
The concept of main type of activity describes the nature of a person's economic activity. The population is divided into people in the labour force and those outside the labour force. These categories can further be divided into subgroups. The classification is based on data on a person's main type of activity during the last week of the year.

The following classification is used:
Labour force

Persons outside the labour force

Information on the main type of activity is based on data obtained from various registers. Where the data conflict as to whether a person is in the labour force or outside it, priority is given to the former. If, within the labour force, the data conflict as to whether a person is unemployed or employed, priority is given to the former.
The group "others outside the labour force" consists of persons who are not in the labour force and do not belong to the following groups: 0-14-year-olds, students, conscripts, conscientous objectors or pensioners.

Months of employment
Months of employment refer to the total number of months the person was in gainful employment during a year. The data on months of employment derive from various registers.
From 2005 onwards, months of employment are calculated from the number of working days. One month of employment does not necessarily correspond to employment of a full month, but for example, the accumulation of 15 to 44 working days during the year corresponds to one month of employment and the accumulation of 45 to 74 working days corresponds to two months of employment. The accumulation month of days of employment has no significance for the number of months of employment.

Months of unemployment
Months of unemployment refer to the total number of months the person was unemployed during a year. The data are obtained from the job seeker register of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
From 2005 onwards, months of unemployment are calculated from the number of unemployment days. One month of unemployment does not necessarily correspond to unemployment of a full month, but for example, the accumulation of 15 to 44 unemployment days during the year corresponds to one month of unemployment and the accumulation of 45 to 74 unemployment days corresponds to two months of unemployment. The accumulation month of days of unemployment has no significance for the number of months of unemployment.

Occupation
The role of persons working at a similar job, which is based on the content of the work made for income acquisition purposes and in some cases on the education completed by the person.
In the employment statistics, the classification of occupations is based on occupational titles derived from various registers and given by employers to employees, which titles are classified into different occupational codes mainly according to industry, education, occupational status and sector. The occupational title is sometimes also called a job title, function or official title. Some of the occupational codes of the employment statistics (cf. industry-specific occupational codes with occupational titles) are derived already classified from the statistics on wages and salaries. Statistics Finland's national classification of occupations valid at each time is used for describing occupation. One occupational group can contain several occupational titles. On the other hand, the same occupational title can be classified into several occupational groups.
Occupations are produced for employed persons primarily based on the person's main employment relationship in the last week of the year. The data are collected from several different sources, such as the registers of employment relationships of central and local government, statistics on wages and salaries, and data collections from enterprises.

Other inactive population
A main type of activity category, which includes persons on whose activity no information was obtained from the source data, or who do not fulfil the criteria for other main type of activity categories.

Pensioner
Pensioners comprise all persons who according to the data of the Social Insurance Institution or the Centre for Pensions receive a pension (excl. those receiving family pension or part-time pension) and are not gainfully employed. All persons over 74 are also classified as pensioners. In addition, some persons have been classified as pensioners on the basis of pension income.

Persons working in the area
Persons working in the area refers to all persons who go to work in the area concerned irrespective of their place of residence. Persons working in the area form the so-called employed day population, the size of which can be regarded as a measure of the number of workplaces in the area.

Population
The population refers to the permanent resident population of an area (e.g. entire country, province, municipality). Those persons who according to the Population Information System had a legal domicile in Finland on 31 December belong to the permanent resident population in the country regardless of their nationality, as do Finnish nationals residing temporarily abroad.
Foreign nationals are domiciled in Finland if their stay is intended to last or has lasted at least one year. An asylum-seeker is not granted a legal domicile until his/her application has been approved.
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. On the other hand, the Finnish staff of Finland´s embassies and trade missions abroad and persons serving in the UN peacekeeping forces are counted among the resident population.

Socio-economic group
The socio-economic group refers to a person's position in society. Formation of a socio-economic group for a person is based on data on the person's main type of activity, occupation, occupational status and industry. Statistics Finland's Classification of Socio-economic Groups valid at each time is used for the classification.
In the employment statistics, persons are classified according to their own activity, apart from persons aged 0 to 15 and the group "others outside the labour force" (mainly home-makers), who have been assigned the same socio-economic group as the reference person in the household. The socio-economic group of students is determined based on their own activity at the end of the year. Students over the age of 18, who have a valid employment relationship at the end of the year, are considered to belong to the employed labour force and thus they are defined as belonging to different socio-economic groups based on their occupation. However, working students under the age of 18 are classified as students (apart from students under the age of 16, who are always assigned the socio-economic group of the reference person in the household).

Status in employment
Status in employment describes the position of the employed on the labour market. . The status is classified as follows:

The data on status in employment are based on the person's pension insurance and amounts of wage and salary and entrepreneurial income.

Student
A student or a pupil is a person over 15 who is studying full-time in an educational institution and is neither gainfully employed nor unemployed.
When the population is classified by socio-economic status, the lower age limit is 16.
Data on studying have been obtained, among other sources, from Statistics Finland's student register. People in labour market training during the last week of the year are also counted as students. Persons aged 15 are also counted as students. Pupils aged under 15 belong to the main activity class "0-14 year-olds".
In certain examinations all persons studying in post-comprehensive educational institutes can be counted as students. Data on students have been collected according to the situation in September. However, during the last week of the year the main activity of the persons concerned may employed, unemployed or conscript.

Type of ownership
The enterprises and corporations included in the Register of Enterprises and Establishments are divided into the following categories by type of ownership:

Unemployed
The unemployed labour force includes all persons aged 16 to 64 who were unemployed on the last weekday of the year. Data on unemployment derive from the job seeker register of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

Unemployment rate
The ratio of unemployed persons to the labour force of the same age, i.e. employed and unemployed persons. In the employment statistics, the unemployment rate is calculated from the population aged 18 to 64.

Working-age population
The working-age population consists of all persons aged between 15 and 74 years.

Workplace
The number of persons working in a certain area can be used to describe the number of jobs in that area. Each employed person is thus thought to represent one job. This means that even part-time work is included in the workplace statistics. If, for example, the work of someone on maternity leave is done by a substitute, two workplaces may be registered. Employment may also be of temporary or short-term in nature.
In the register-based censuses and in the employment statistics no distinction has been made between work done at fixed workplaces and work of mobile nature. Instead, all persons are allocated to some establishment regardless of the nature of the work. If exact data on the location of a workplace are lacking, persons are placed in the municipality where they live. For the majority of self-employed the location of their workplace is the same as the municipality where they live.
Workplace numbers can be distorted by flaws in data sources. For example, where detailed information on the workplace of a person employed in a company with several establishments is missing, the person's workplace is fixed to that person's place of residence, or persons may accumulate in a company's main establishment.

Workplace self-sufficiency
Self-sufficiency in workplaces indicates the ratio between the number of people working in the area and the employed labour force living in the area. If the ratio exceeds 100%, the number of workplaces in the area is greater than the number of employed people living in the area. If the figure is below 100%, the opposite is true.

Income subject to state taxation
The information is based on data in the tax files of the National Board of Inland Revenue concerning income subject to state taxation.
Average income refers to income calculated per income earner. Median income generally provides a better picture of the income level within a certain group. Median income indicates the amount of income that divides income earners into two groups of equal size. One half of the income earners have lower, and one half higher, incomes than the median.
Net income means income obtained by subtracting taxes from income subject to state taxation (income tax, wealth tax, punitive tax increase, municipal tax, church tax, social security contributions and forestry levies).

Income subject to state taxation is divided into the following categories according to source:

A person's earned income consists of his or her entrepreneurial income and wage and salary earnings. Income subject to state taxation does not include scholarships and grants received from public corporations for studies or research, earned income from abroad if the person has worked abroad for at least six months, part of the social security benefits received from the public sector and tax-exempt interest income.
Statistics Finland's annual publication "Statistics on income and property" contains descriptions of the different types of income.

[6] Families
Families are formed at the turn of the year from persons living in the same dwelling according to the population information system of the Population Register Centre.

Description
Families are formed at the turn of the year from persons living in the same dwelling according to the population information system of the Population Register Centre. The statistics comprise families and families with children, and their demographic data. Families are classified into families without children, married or cohabiting couples living with children, and single-parent families. Cohabiting couples are deduced from living together. The statistics contain data on the age, language, nationality and country of birth of spouses/parents, and on the age and gender of each child living at home. Families with children are those that include children under the age of 18.

Data content
The statistics contain demographic data on all permanently resident families and families with children in Finland. They include data on the age, language, marital status, nationality and country of birth of the spouses/parents, and on the age, gender and language (defined as Finnish, Swedish, other language) of each child living at home. The data on the spouses/parents also include those on successive number of their marriage and the latest dates of marriage and divorce. In respect of registered partnerships, besides the dates of registration and annulments of registration data are also included on their possible marriages. The data on a family also indicate whether it is a reconstituted family and how many underage children of each spouse and common children of the spouses the family includes.
In census years (every fifth year), data on the parents'/spouses' employment, income, housing, ownership of free-time residence and cars are also linked with those on families.
Individual data with identifiers must be kept undisclosed.

Classifications used
Families are classified into married couples, unmarried couples or registered partnership couples with or without children, and into single-parent families. There is no age limit on the status of child. Families with children under the age of 18 are classified as families with children. Only families with one parent and children under the age of 18 are classified as single-parent families.
Families are usually classified by number of children into families with 1, 2, 3 and 4 or more children. Numbers of children aged, 0-6, 0-17 and 0-24 are used as children's age groups.
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.
Data on families are available by diverse regional divisions based on municipalities. Data by municipal sub-region can also be provided as a charged service. The data can also be produced by regional divisions based on map co-ordinates as e.g. grid based 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.

Data collection methods and data sources
Data on families are formed from the population data received at the turn of the year from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. A computer program uses the real estate identifier codes of dwellings to identify individuals living in the same dwelling and deduces families by comparing the residents' data.

Updating frequency
The datafile on families is produced annually according to the situation at the turn of the year.
Time of completion or release.
The datafile is completed in spring and the paper publication "Families" comes out in autumn of the year following the statistical reference year.

Time series
Statistics on families have been produced according to the current definitions in 1990 and from 1992 onwards. The publication "Families" has been produced annually since 1994.

Keywords
Children, cohabitation, families, families with underage children, marriage, nationality, reconstituted families, registered partnership, single-parent families

Concepts and definitions

Age
Age refers to a person's age in whole years as at 31 December. The data are obtained from the Population Information System.
Age is also used as an auxiliary variable. For example, only people between 15 and 74 can be in the labour force.

Child
In the family statistics children comprise the following persons living with their parents:

Foster children and children in the care of the family are not classified as children.
The definition of child has changed since 1990. A child is now defined as a person who lives with his or her parents irrespective of his or her marital status, unless the person has a spouse or children who live in the same household-dwelling unit. In 1990 only unmarried persons were counted as children. So while in 1990 widowed or divorced persons living with their parents were classified as not belonging to families, since 1992 they have been regarded as members of the family.

Cohabiting couple
A cohabiting couple is defined as two spouseless adults of different sex aged 18 and over and occupying the same dwelling on a permanent basis, provided their age difference is less than 16 years and they are not siblings. In case the couple has a common child these specifications do not apply. Same-sex persons living together are not inferred as cohabiting couples. Only registered partnerships are recorded in the statistics.

Family status
Family members are grouped by family status as follows:

In the family statistics children comprise all persons, regardless of age, who live with their parents, or the spouse's biological or adopted children, but not foster children or children in the care of the family.

Family with underage children
A family with underage children is a family comprising at least one child aged under 18 living at home.

Language
Information on language is obtained from the Population Information System. At the same time as parents register the name of their new-born, they also indicate the child's mother tongue. That language is retained in the Population Information System unless it is changed upon separate application.
Languages are classified by the Population Register Centre according to the ISO 639 standard. The future language classification ISO-639-1 was already adopted for the 2000 population census.

Number of children
The number of children refers to the number of children who are living at home and have the status of a child. The number of children in families with underage children refers to the number of children aged under 18 living at home.

Reconstituted family
In a reconstituted family, a child aged under 18 is a child of only one of the spouses. Not all the children aged under 18 in the family are common children.

With a family
A man with a family is a married or cohabiting partner, a father with children and both partners of a registered male couple.
A woman with a family is a married or cohabiting partner, a mother with children and both partners of a registered female couple.

[7] Population structure
These statistics on the structure of the population describe Finnish and foreign citizens permanently resident in Finland at the turn of the year.

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 Population Register Centre 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

Concepts and definitions

Background country
During 2012, Statistics Finland has adopted a new origin classification. A similar classification is already used in the other Nordic countries. The origin and background country are determined based on the country of birth data of the person's parents. Using the origin classification it is easy to distinguish between persons born abroad and born in Finland with a foreign background.
Data on persons that died before 1964 have not been entered into the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. There are nearly 900,000 persons among the Finnish population who have been born in Finland and both parent's country of birth is unknown because the parents of these persons have died before the Population Information System was established. People born in Finland before 1970, whose parents' background is not known, have been concluded to be persons with Finnish background if their native language is a national language (Finnish, Swedish, Sami). All such persons who have at least one parent who was born in Finland are also considered to be persons with Finnish background. The background country for all persons with Finnish background is Finland.
Persons whose both parents or the only known parent have been born abroad are considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons who have been born abroad and whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System are also considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons born in Finland before 1970, whose native language is a foreign language have been considered to be persons with foreign background, as have persons born in Finland in 1970 or after this, whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System.
If both parents of a person have been born abroad, the background country is primarily the country of birth of the biological mother. If a person only has knowledge of a father that was born abroad, the background country is the country of birth of the father. If either parent's country of birth is unknown, the background country for persons born abroad is their own country of birth. For persons born in Finland, whose parents' data are unknown and who have been deducted to be with foreign background, the background country is unknown.
For children adopted from abroad, the adoptive parents are regarded as the biological parents. Thus a child adopted from abroad by persons born in Finland is a person with Finnish background and their background country is Finland.

Change of population
Change of population is defined as increase of population added up with register corrections.

Country of birth
All persons entered in the Population Register are indicated a country of birth, which is determined on the basis of the mother's permanent home country at the time of birth. This means, for example, that the country of birth of Estonian immigrants born before Estonian independence is the Soviet Union. Similarly, the country of birth of people who were born in areas that Finland has subsequently ceded is Finland even though the area no longer is Finnish territory. Country of birth is indicated according to the form of government at the time of birth.

Divorce
The divorce statistics are based on data on granted decrees of divorce transmitted to the Population Register Centre by courts of law. The statistics also include cases where a permanent resident of Finland is granted a divorce by a foreign court. If the divorce is granted abroad, it must be reported to the register keeper for registration of divorce. Exceptions are divorces granted to Finnish citizens in Sweden, on which the Swedish register keeper notifies the Finnish counterpart directly.
A divorce granted to a Finnish citizen abroad usually requires validation by the Helsinki Court of Appeal before registration. Divorce decisions given in the Nordic Countries and in the EU countries as of 1 March 2001 can be registered without validation.
In 1980 to 2016, divorces referred to divorces of women living permanently in Finland unless otherwise stated. Starting from the statistical reference year 2017, divorces where at least one of the spouses has resided permanently in Finland on the day the divorce was granted are included in the statistics as divorces. The amendment to the Marriage Act that entered into force on 1 March 2017 enabled same-sex couples to enter into marriage (156/2015). Since 2017, the total number of divorces consists of the number of divorces of marriages between opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
The amendment to the Marriage Act (411/1987), effective from 1 January 1988, simplified divorce proceedings. Divorce figures began to rise towards the end of 1988, when the first divorces (after a reconsideration period of six months) became effective under the new legislation. The Marriage Act no longer has regulations on 'cancellation of marriage' or 'nullification of marriage'. Before the new act came into force in 1988 these were in separate groups, now among divorces.

Finnish background
All persons who have at least one parent who was born in Finland are considered to be persons with Finnish background. People born in Finland before 1970, whose parents' background is not known, have been concluded to be persons with Finnish background if their native language is a national language (Finnish, Swedish, Sami). The background country for all persons with Finnish background is Finland.
For children adopted from abroad, the adoptive parents are regarded as the biological parents. Thus a child adopted from abroad by persons born in Finland is a person with Finnish background and their background country is Finland.
See a more detailed definition of the origin classification: origin and background country.

Finnish origin
See Finnish background.

Foreign background
Persons whose both parents or the only known parent have been born abroad are considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons who have been born abroad and whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System are also considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons born in Finland before 1970, whose native language is a foreign language have been considered to be persons with foreign background, as have persons born in Finland in 1970 or after this, whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System. Persons, whose mother tongue is not Finnish, Swedish or Sami are regarded as foreign-language speakers.
See a more detailed definition of the origin classification: origin and background country.

Foreign origin
See foreign background.

Infant mortality
Infant mortality is calculated by dividing the number of deaths of infants under one year of age by the number of live births during the statistical year. Multiplying the result by 1,000 gives the figure in per mille.

Marital status
The information on marital status is derived from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. It should be noted that common-law marriage or cohabiting is not a marital status. People representing all marital status categories may be cohabiting, including those who are still officially married.
The current divorce regulations no longer recognise the concept of legal separation. Those persons who are legally separated on the basis of the old divorce provisions prior to 1 January 1988 and still living apart have been slotted under married persons in the statistics.
The possibility to register partnerships started in Finland on 1 March 2002 and ended on the last day of February 2017 (Act to amend the Act of Registered Partnerships 250/2016). Starting from the beginning of March 2017, same-sex couples have been able to enter into marriage (156/2015). Same-sex couples had been able to register their partnership in Finland as of 1 March 2002.
The amendment to the Marriage Act that entered into force on 1 March 2017 didn't change the classification of marital status.
For reasons of data protection, in municipal tables those living in a registered partnership are classified together with married persons, as are those divorced or widowed from a registered partnership with divorced and widowed persons.

The classification of marital status is as follows:

Marriage
Starting from the statistical reference year 2017, contracted marriages refer to marriages where at least one of the spouses has resided permanently in Finland on the day when the marriage was contracted. The amendment to the Marriage Act that entered into force on 1 March 2017 enabled same-sex couples to enter into marriage (156/2015).
The number of marriages contracted annually is, thus, the number of marriages entered into by same-sex and opposite-sex spouses.
In 1980 to 2016, contracted marriages referred to marriages of women living permanently in Finland unless otherwise stated.

Mean population
The notion of mean population (or average population) refers to the average of the populations of two consecutive years. When a ratio describing some phenomenon is calculated for the statistical year, the number of events in the phenomenon in question is usually expressed as a proportion of the mean population of the people or the groups subject to the event. The figures relating to population events are generally given as per 1,000, that is, the result of the division is multiplied by one thousand.

Origin and background country
During 2012, Statistics Finland has adopted a new origin classification. A similar classification is already used in the other Nordic countries. The origin and background country are determined based on the country of birth data of the person's parents. Using the origin classification it is easy to distinguish between persons born abroad and born in Finland with a foreign background.
Data on persons that died before 1964 have not been entered into the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. There are nearly 900,000 persons among the Finnish population who have been born in Finland and both parent's country of birth is unknown because the parents of these persons have died before the Population Information System was established. People born in Finland before 1970, whose parents' background is not known, have been concluded to be persons with Finnish background if their native language is a national language (Finnish, Swedish, Sami). All such persons who have at least one parent who was born in Finland are also considered to be persons with Finnish background. The background country for all persons with Finnish background is Finland.
Persons whose both parents or the only known parent have been born abroad are considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons who have been born abroad and whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System are also considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons born in Finland before 1970, whose native language is a foreign language have been considered to be persons with foreign background, as have persons born in Finland in 1970 or after this, whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System.
If both parents of a person have been born abroad, the background country is primarily the country of birth of the biological mother. If a person only has knowledge of a father that was born abroad, the background country is the country of birth of the father. If either parent's country of birth is unknown, the background country for persons born abroad is their own country of birth. For persons born in Finland, whose parents' data are unknown and who have been deducted to be with foreign background, the background country is unknown.
For children adopted from abroad, the adoptive parents are regarded as the biological parents. Thus a child adopted from abroad by persons born in Finland is a person with Finnish background and their background country is Finland.

Population
The resident population of Finland on 31 December is derived from the Population Information System maintained by the Population Register Centre. Since the data for 1993, Statistics Finland and the Population Register Centre have had the same reference period, the turn of the year at midnight, which means that the number of population has been the same.

Registered partnership
Registered partnership of two persons of the same sex aged 18 or over (Act on Registered Partnerships of 9 Nov. 2001/950). Partnership is registered by an authority entitled to perform civil marriage ceremonies. Registered partnership is dissolved when one partner dies or is declared dead, or when it is dissolved by court order.

Sex
The information about sex has been obtained from the Population Information System.

Total change
Total change is increase of population added up with register corrections of population. Increase of population is the sum of excess of births and total net migration.

Urban-rural
Geographical information systems (GIS) with extensively detailed, register-based datasets introduce new insights into the process of classifying urban and rural areas. The independence of administrative borders makes it possible to recognise and classify areas in greater detail than before. The new classification system replaces the previously used urban-rural regional classification system and the trisection of rural areas, which were based on municipal boundaries. The geographical information-based area classification system has been created by the Finnish Environment Institute and the Department of Geography of the University of Oulu.
The classification system is implemented using a nationwide 250 x 250 m grid of cells. Each cell is categorized into one of seven classes according to the defined criteria.

Urban areas:
The population centres of urban areas are agglomerations with more than 15 000 residents. Each of these agglomerations consists of a core urban area, which is then divided into an inner and outer urban area. Surrounding the core urban area is a peri-urban area.