Finland population to exceed 5.5 million in 2015

Statistics Finland has predicted that the country’s population will exceed 5.5 million in 2015 if the present demographic trend continues.

As of the end of May, the country’s population was 5,434,357, only growing by 8,000 people in the year’s first five months – 400 fewer than recorded in the same five months in 2012. The agency’s Eevi Lappalainen said that the birth rate is higher than the death rate, but most of the increase comes from immigration.

In the first five months of 2013, there were around 6,000 more immigrants arriving in Finland than emigrants leaving the country. More than 10,000 people moved to the Scandinavian nation, with about 25 per cent of them Finnish citizens relocating to their homeland. Meanwhile, just under 5,000 people quit the country, of which around two-thirds were Finnish nationals.

In the five-month period, the number of babies born exceeded the number of people that died by 1,600. Just over 24,000 babies were born, marginally down on the same period last year, while the number of deaths also fell slightly from the opening five months of 2012.

Statistics Finland predicts that if current trends continue the population will hit the six million mark by 2042.