Since a few years ago, in Finland fewer people are born than they die. The same trend is happening in 2019: in the first half of the year, the number of births was 4,869 lower than that of deaths, according to the latest figures published by Statistics Finland.
However, the country continues to slowly increase its population due to immigration of both foreigners and Finns who return home after living abroad for a while.
Finland's population at the end of June was 5,521,158. During January-June Finland's population increased by 3,239 persons, which is 8 less than in the preliminary data the year before. The reason for the population increase was migration gain from abroad: the number of immigrants was 8,504 higher than that of emigrants.
Growing immigration
Altogether 14,712 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad and 6,208 persons emigrated from Finland during January-June period. The number of immigrants was 904 higher and the number of emigrants 2,461 lower than in the previous year. In all, 3,911 of the immigrants (26.58%) and 3,969 of the emigrants (64%) were Finnish citizens.
According to the preliminary data, the number of inter-municipal migrations totaled 124,603 by the end of June. Compared with the previous year, the decrease was 3,192 migrations according to the municipal division of 2019.
According to preliminary data by region, the population grew only in Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Southwest Finland, Åland, and North Ostrobothnia in the first half of 2019.
The population grew most in absolute numbers in Uusimaa, where it grew by 10,390 persons. The next largest increase in population was seen in Pirkanmaa, 645 persons. Relative to the population, population increase was highest in Uusimaa, 6.2 per mil, in Åland, 5.1 per mil and in Pirkanmaa, 1.3 per mil.
Population loss
Population loss was highest in absolute numbers in the region of Lapland that lost 1,069 persons of its population. The population of North Savo decreased by 866 persons, which was the second biggest population loss. Relative to the population, the biggest population loss was found in South Karelia, 6.4 per mil.
According to the preliminary statistics for January-June 2019, a total of 22,186 children were born, which is 1686 fewer than in the corresponding period 2018. The number of deaths was 27,055 which is 950 lower than one year earlier.
