People aged 70 and over now account for 18 percent of Finland’s overall population, having made up less than 10 percent in the early 1990s.
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There are now 1,000,148 people aged at least 70 in Finland. File photo. Image: Jaana Polamo / Yle
The number of people aged 70 years old and over in Finland has reached one million for the first time ever, according to a population report published by Statistics Finland on Tuesday.
The report notes that Finland’s population stood at 5,650,325 at the end of August, of whom 1,000,148 people were aged at least 70.
This means that people aged 70 and over now account for 18 percent of Finland’s overall population, having stood at just nine percent in the early 1990s.
“The rise in the proportion reflects the ageing of the population. The large demographic born after the [second world] war are now 75–80 years old,” according to Joonas Toivola, a senior actuary at Statistics Finland.
Among the over-70s population, 432,017 were men and 568,131 were women.
“Over the long term, mortality has declined and life expectancy has increased. This development has made it possible for the number of elderly people to grow,” Toivola added.
Immigration slowing effects of ageing population
Although Finland’s population is ageing, the largest demographic — when viewed by year of birth — is people born in 1990, of whom there were 78,615 when Statistics Finland’s report was compiled in August.
The second-largest group, by year of birth, were people born in 1992 (78,547), and the third largest was those born in 1983 (77,621).
When looking at five-year age demographics, the largest group is 30–34-year-olds (382,328), who account for 6.8 percent of the population.
Statistics Finland’s report also noted the impact that immigration is having on Finland’s population figures, because if only people born in Finland were included in the data, the largest age groups would skew much older — as people born in 1963 would be the largest cohort.
Overall, Finland’s population grew by 14,354 people during January to August this year, according to StatFin’s figures, largely due to immigration.
“The number of immigrants was 23,003 higher than that of emigrants. The number of births was 8,679 lower than that of deaths,” the report noted.
The effects of Finland’s ageing population were evident from a new population forecast published last week, which found that the population of villages, towns and even smaller cities will shrink rapidly over the next two decades.