Immigrants keep Finland gaining population, even though the pandemic has reduced the number of arrivals.
At the end of August, 5,532,333 people lived in the country, according to Statistics Finland's preliminary data.
Finland's population increased by 7,041 persons during January-August. The reason for the increase was migration gain from abroad, since immigration exceeded emigration by 12,145, Statistics Finland emphasized.
The number of births was 5,077 lower than that of deaths.
During January-August, 31,267 children were born, which is 782 higher than in the corresponding period in 2019. But the number of deaths was much higher, 36,344, which is 587 more than one year earlier.
7,204 people left the country
According to the preliminary statistics for August, 19,349 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad in January-August and 7,204 people left the country. The number of immigrants was 2,747 lower and the number of emigrants 4,176 lower than in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In all, 6,560 (around 34%) of the immigrants and 4,664 of the emigrants (64%) were Finnish citizens.
Preliminary data also show that the number of inter-municipal migrations totaled 198,809 during January-August. Compared with the corresponding period in 2019, the increase was 5,282 migrations according to the municipal division of 2020.
