Birth rate in country remains low in Feb

The number of births was 1,467 less than that of deaths in the country at the end of last February, according to Statistics Finland.

In January to February, 7,687 children were born, which is 260 fewer than that in the corresponding period in 2017. The number of deaths was 9,154 or 888 less than that one year before.

Finland’s population stood at 5,513,849 at the end of February, posting an increase of 719 persons during January-February. The reason for the population growth was migration gain from abroad, since immigration exceeded emigration by 2,186 persons.

For February, 4,597 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad and 2,411 persons emigrated from Finland. The number of immigrants was 264 lower and the number of emigrants 191 higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year. In all, 1,124 of the immigrants and 1,568 of the emigrants were Finnish citizens.

According to the preliminary data, the number of inter-municipal migrations totalled 39,043 during January-February. Compared with the corresponding period in 2017, the increase was 129 migrations, according to the municipal division of 2018.