Birth rate in Finland remains low in Jan-Sep

A total of 38,311 children were born in the country in January to September this year, which is 2,269 fewer than that in the corresponding period of 2016, said the Statistics Finland.

The number of deaths was 39,824, which too was less by 68 than one year earlier.

According to Statistics Finland’s preliminary data, the country’s population at the end of September was 5,509,984.

In January-September, Finland’s population increased by 6,687 persons, which is 6,538 persons less than the number one year before.

The main reason for the population increase was migration gain from abroad: the number of immigrants in the first three quarters of this year was 8,200 higher than that of the emigrants. There was no natural population growth, since deaths exceeded births by 1,513 persons.

Altogether 19,625 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad and 11,425 persons emigrated from Finland during the January-September period.

The number of immigrants was 6,274 lower and the number of emigrants 1,937 lower than in the corresponding period of the previous year. In all, 6,092 of the immigrants and 7,899 of the emigrants were Finnish citizens.

Same-sex marriages took legal effect in March 2017. In the March-September period, a total of 290 women and 125 men entered marriage in which the spouse was of the same sex. In all, 1,448 women and 777 men changed their registered partnership into marriage.