News 29 May 2019

National accounts are renewed Changes to the methodology of the quarterly national accounts and StatFin tables

The calculation methods and release content of national accounts are revised. The calculation method for value added is revised in the quarterly national accounts publication on 29 May 2019. Volume indices produced by Statistics Finland are used more extensively in the calculation as source data for value added.

Find out more about the changes made concerning the quarterly national accounts statistics

The StatFin tables of the national accounts are also revised. The classifications in the StatFin tables of the national accounts are harmonised to facilitate joining of various tables. In addition, tables have been renamed to better correspond with the content of the tables. A test page has been created for the users on Statistics Finland's web pages where you can test the content of the new tables and how well the selections suit your needs.

Release schedule for the annual national accounts data changes

The release of annual national accounts data is accelerated so that the first accelerated preliminary annual statistics concerning 2018 data will be published on 20 June 2019. In future, the release of annual national accounts data will be scheduled in accordance with the harmonised European revision policy in March, June, September and December. The annual updates will be released around the 20th of the above-mentioned months. The previous release dates in January and July will be abolished.

Preliminary annual data will be revised each quarter. Both quarterly and annual sources are used in the calculation. The data content of preliminary annual data is less detailed than for the data that used to be released in July. This is visible, for example, in the accuracy levels of industry-specific, employment, investment and consumption data. The data content corresponding with that of July will be released in March 2020. Then, national accounts will release more detailed annual data on the Finnish economy.

Further information:
Senior statistician Samu Hakala tel. +358 29 551 3756, quarterly data
Senior statistician Peter Parkkonen tel. +358 29 551 2571, StatFin tables
Senior statistician Tapio Kuusisto tel. +358 29 551 3318, annual data
Head of Development Tuomas Rothovius tel. +358 29 551 3360

National accounts pages

National Accounts’ thematic pages