Page last modified 18 August 2023

Finland

Community

Area 338,145 square kilometres (land area 303,815 square kilometres).

Population,

350,000 (1600)

421,500 (1750)

832,700 (1800)

1,636,915 (1851)

2,250,000 (1890)

2,655,900 (1900)

3,611,791 (1930)

3,887,217 (1940) +7.6%

4,029,800 (1950) +3.7%

4,435,000 (1960) +10.1%

4,612,000 (1970) +4.0%

4,787,800 (1980) +3.8%

4,996,000 (1990) +4.3%

5,188,000 (2000) +3.8%

5,366,000 (2010) +3.4%

5,531,000 (2020) +3/1%

Ethnicity

	Estonian	Finnish	Roma	Russian	Sami	Swedish
1900		84.6		0.2		12.6
1940		90.0		0.2		9.6
1975		93.2				6.6
2009	0.3	93.4	0.1	0.5	0.1	5.6

Religion,

	Christian Greek Orthodox	Christian Lutheran	None
1900	1.7	98.3	0.0
1947	1.8	96.0	2.8
1960	1.5	92.4
1970	1.2
1990	1.1	87.8	10.2
2000	1.1	85.1	12.7
2010	1.1	78.3	19.2
2016	1.1	72.0	25.3

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1722		30.2 (+7.2)		23.0
1731		39.6 (+17.8)		21.8
1741		35.8 (+4.2)		31.6
1751		45.0 (+16.0)		29.0
1801		38.0 (+13.0)		25.0			5.6
1851		36.0 (+8.0)		28.0
1880			164.0
1901		31.0 (+13.0)	134.0	18.0	34.5		12.5
1910		30.1 (+12.8)		17.3
1935	2.3	19.5 (+6.1)	72.0	13.4
1940	2.0		69.0^1				23.2
1950	1.9	18.9 (+8.9)	34.0	10.0	30.0	6.7	41.5
1960	1.9	16.9 (+7.9)	21.9	9.0	30.4	7.3	55.3
1970	2.1	16.3 (+6.7)	13.2	9.6	24.6	9.2	63.7
1980	1.6	13.2 (+3.9)	7.2	9.3	20.3	12.0	71.7
1990	1.8	13.2 (+3.2)	5.7	10.0	19.3	13.4	79.4
2000	1.7	11.0 (+1.5)	3.5	9.5	18.1	15.0	81.2
2010	1.9	10.3 (+1.0)	2.5	9.3	16.5	17.2	83.6
2015	1.7	10.1 (+0.5)	1.8	9.6	16.4	20.3	84.2
2017	1.5	9.1 (-0.7)	1.5	9.8
2018			1.4		16.1	21.7	85.4

¹1944 figure.

Life expectancy,

46.7 (1905); 45.3 (M), 48.1 (F)

56.3 (1933); 53.9 (M), 58.7 (F)

66.3 (1950); 63.0 (M), 70.0 (F)

68.8 (1960); 65.4 (M), 72.4 (F)

70.2 (1970); 66.2 (M), 74.4 (F)

73.4 (1980); 69.2 (M), 77.9 (F)

74.8 (1990); 70.9 (M), 78.9 (F)

77.5 (2000); 74.1 (M), 81.0 (F)

79.9 (2010); 76.7 (M), 83.2 (F)

81.9 (2020); 79.2 (M), 84.8 (F)

Population of principal cities, 1,000s M = Metropolitan Area

	Aland Islands^1	Espoo	HELSINKI^2	Tampere	Turku^3
1700			2,000
1810			4,065		10,224
1850	9,500		14,160
1860			22,228
1890			61,530
1897	18,413		93,000	40,000	42,000
1904			111.654
1940			319,939	80,995	75,419
1950			414,000	103,043	101,239
1960			625,000	133,500	123,000
1968		88,177		213,707	199,731
1980	22,783	137,409	901,118	243,918	240,927
1990	25,000	168,000	978,000	255,000
2000	26,000	213,271
2007	27,153	238,047
2009			1,107,000
2016	29,013	275,000	1,400,000 MA	225,000	310,000

¹Originally belonging to Sweden, the Aland Islands were captured by Russia in 1809.� After World War One they were given to Finland, despite their inhabitants voting to be part of Sweden.

²Helsinki was founded by King Gustavus V Vasa in 1550, In 1812 the Tsar of Russia, as Grand Duke of Finland, decreed that Helsinki, originally called Helsingfors, should replace Turku as capital of Finland. The city�s name derives from the local Helsingi tribe, and the Swedish word fors, meaning �waterfall.

³Turku was the capital of Finland until 1812.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1948	2,276	1.02	569	37.31
1956	3,770	1.05
1960	5,224	0.96	1,180	39.24
1965	8,590	1.16	1,880	49.11
1970	11,110	1.07	2,470	47.07
1975	28,930	1.77	6,260	80.05
1980	52,350	1.87	11,200	88.90
1985	54,540	1.29	11,400	62.40
1990	136,790	2.36	28,380	118.47
1995	129,290	1.75	26,275	87.39
2000	121,980	1.22	24,250	66.53
2005	193,200	1.48	39,000	88.02
2010	238,000	1.59	46,200	95.51
2015	232,360	1.29	42,400	75.44
2016	236,785	1.28	43,090	74.98

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1940		57.0
1960		36.0		31.0		33.0
1970		20.0
1980		11.0		35.0		54.0
1990	6.6	10.2	33.9	31.0	59.5	57.9
2007	3.1	5.0	32.7	25.0	64.3	70.0
2010	2.6	4.9	29.1		68.2
2014		4.5		24.0		71.5
2016	2.7		27.1		70.2

Communications

Language Official; Finnish, Swedish.� Sami also spoken in Lapland

	Finnish	Lappish (Sami)	Russian	Swedish
1947	90.0			10.0
1950	91.3			8.6
1960	92.4			7.4
1990	94.0		0.1	6.0
2007	91.2	3.3		5.5
2015	89.0		1.3	5.3

Literacy

91.0% (1900)

99.0% (1960)

99.9% (1980 and subsequent years)

Physical communications � roads and railways, First railway in Finland opened 1862; 108 kilometres between Helsinki and Hameenlina.

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)	% electric
1862						108
1870						483
1880						886
1890						1,909
1900	44,300					2,933
1910						3,653
1920						4,287
1930						5,387
1940						4,848
1944	59,200
1947				12,907	28,059
1950				26,780	34,469	4,915
1955			168,900	102,400		5,100	0
1959	67,200		321,411	160,419	45,347	5,358	0
1962	70,103			259,211	90,523
1964			473,800			5,363
1968				580,747	92,600	5,717
1977	74,149			1,075,400	136,200
1980	74,684	34,368		1,225,931	150,000
1985						5,877	24.6
1990	77,200	45,000	2,100,000	1,820,000	240,000	5,880	28.3
2000	78,059	50,000	2,500,000	2,160,103	311,500	5,851	41.0
2005			2,800,000	2,430,345	363,000
2008			3,116,000	2,570,536
2010	78,144*	50,914	3,331,000	2,877,000		5,794	52.6
2013			3,642,000	3,127,000
2015						5,923	55.1
2016				4,996,000

*This total excludes 26,000 km suburban roads.� In addition, Finland had 350,000 km private roads, mainly forestry tracks, giving a grand total of 454,000 km roads.

Urban metro systems, kilometres

Helsinki Metro, (opened 1982)

17.0 (1992)

17.0 (2000)

21.2 (2003)

35.0 (2016)

Electronic communications, �In 2008, 69.0% of Finnish households had a mobile phone only, and no landline phone.

TV broadcasting began 1957 (colour from 1969)

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1938	185,456		293,790
1946	264,231		542,198
1951	328,394		722,000
1959	571,477		1,187,089	8,000^1
1960			1,228,000
1969	1,009,336		1,750,000	970,000
1976			2,179,000
1977				1,454,500
1980	1,739,954	23,482		1,538,259
1985		67,639		1,784,311
1990	2,669,697	257,870	4,960,000	2,470,000	500,000
1995		1,039,000	6,800,000	2,800,000	1,200,000
1998						1,430,000
2000	2,848,809	3,728,600	8,400,000	3,400,000	2,050,000	1,950,000
2003				3,540,000		2,850,000
2005	2,140,000	5,231,000			2,600,000	3,500,000
2009	1,430,000					4,393,000
2010						4,500,000
2012	890,000
2016	457,300	7,366,100				4,822,000
2017						5,125,700

¹1957 figure

Tourism: Visitors to Finland,

436,000 (1987)

1,779,000 (1995)

1,971,000 (2000)

2,080,000 (2005)

2,319,000 (2010)

2,622,000 (2015)