News 2 Jun 2016

Pocket-size information about Finland

Statistics Finland’s newly published Finland in Figures 2016 is a compact, 50-page information package in pocket size about Finland and Finns. The booklet provides key data on the population, economy, living conditions and culture in the form of statistics and graphics. International comparison data are also included.

Finland in Figures 2016 pocket statistics are available in three languages: Finnish, Swedish and English.

Extracts from data in Finland in Figures:

  • At the end of last year, Finland's population was 5,487,308, of whom 229,765 were citizens of foreign countries.
  • Finland's population grew by 15,555 persons from the year before. Natural population increase, or excess of births to deaths, was low last year, 2,980 persons.
  • There was population growth in all municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants last year. Thirty-eight per cent of the population of the whole country were living in the areas of these nine municipalities.
  • In 2014, households had, on average, EUR 37,778 at their disposal. Households' disposable income has fallen in the past couple of years. In all, 12.5 per cent of the population were at risk of poverty.
  • Last year, 346,000, or 14 per cent, of employed persons were self-employed. The figure also includes unpaid family members. The average share of wage and salary earners among employed persons was 86 per cent.
  • The total number of unemployed persons was 252,000 last year. A quarter of them were long-term unemployed, that is, their unemployment had lasted continuously for 12 months or longer.
  • In 2014, there were 364,000 enterprises in Finland. Ninety-five per cent of enterprises were small enterprises, that is, employing under 10 persons. Manufacturing was the biggest employer, and its turnover was also highest of all industries, EUR 130 billion in 2014.
  • Twenty-one per cent of enterprises' turnover came from electronic commerce in 2014.
  • Sixty-nine per cent of the population (aged 16 to 89) had a smartphone in use in 2015. 
  • Finland has over two million hectares of protected areas and 1.5 million hectares of wilderness reserves. Over 10,000 protected areas are on private land.
  • In 2014, the most common causes of death were diseases of the circulatory system (37%), neoplasms (23%) and dementia and Alzheimer's disease (15%).
  • Last year, overnight stays by foreign citizens in accommodation establishments went down by 3.5 per cent. The number of overnight stays by Russian visitors fell sharply, down by 42 per cent from the previous year. However, Russians were the largest group of foreign tourists in Finnish accommodation establishments in 2015.
  • In 17 out of the 28 EU countries general government debt exceeded the GDP share of 60 per cent last year. In Finland, the share of the debt was 63 per cent. The debt share of Greece was the biggest of the EU Member States, 177 per cent, and that of Estonia the smallest, 10 per cent of GDP.

Finland in Figures 2016 is also available as a PDF publication and an online service in Finnish, Swedish and English on Statistics Finland's web pages.

The publication can be ordered from the customer service of Edita Publishing Oy, tel. +358 20 450 05 or from Edita's NetMarket online store

Further information

Sirkku Hiltunen +358 29 551 6373