346 women, 149 men enter into same-sex marriage in 2017

A total of 346 women and 149 men entered into marriage in which the spouse was of the same sex during March-December period in 2017 after same-sex marriages took legal effect in March 2017, according to Statistics Finland.

In all, 1,462 women and 849 men changed their registered partnership into marriage.

Meanwhile, during 2017 Finland's population increased by 12,927 persons, which is 3,062 persons less than in 2016.

The reason for the population increase was migration gain from abroad: the number of immigrants was 16,986 higher than that of emigrants.

There was no natural population growth, since deaths exceeded births by 3,078 persons.

According to the preliminary statistics for January-December 2017, a total of 50,139 children were born, which is 2,675 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2016. The number of deaths was 53,217, which is 706 lower than one year earlier.

Altogether 30,217 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad and 13,231 persons emigrated from Finland during 2017. The number of immigrants was 4,688 lower and the number of emigrants 4,851 lower than in the previous year. In all, 7,987 of the immigrants and 8,931 of the emigrants were Finnish citizens.

According to the preliminary data, the number of inter-municipal migrations totalled 288,404 in 2017. Compared with the previous year, the increase was 6,147 migrations according to the municipal division of 2017.

Most migration gain from intra-municipal and international migration was collected by Uusimaa, 15,335 persons and Varsinais-Suomi, 3,080 persons. Most migration gain in relative terms based on total net migration was attained by Uusimaa, 9.3 per million and Åland, 8.9 per million. In absolute numbers, migration loss from total net migration was biggest in the region of Kymenlaakso, 1,010 persons. In the region of Kanta-Häme the loss was 655 persons. In relative terms, the biggest migration loss from total net migration was found in the region of Kymenlaakso, 5.7 per million of the population.

During 2017, migration between regions numbered 137,178, which was 3,948 moves greater than in the previous year. The positive gain from migration between regions was seen in Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Varsinais-Suomi and Åland. In absolute numbers, the highest gain from migration between regions was received by Uusimaa, 7,668 persons. The relative migration gain was also highest in Uusimaa, 4.6 per million of the population.

Migration loss from migration between regions was biggest in absolute numbers in the region of Kymenlaakso, 1,403 persons. Migration loss from migration between regions was biggest in relative terms in the region of Kymenlaakso, 7.9 per million of the population.