Finland: More kids with foreign ancestry were born in 2021

Source: Schengen Visa Info

Finnish residents with foreign backgrounds have a higher birth rate compared to the native-born, including both men and women, the statistics show.

According to Statistics Finland, the total fertility rate of men and women with a non-native background was higher than their native counterparts in 2021, indicating that native-born people in Finland are choosing to have fewer children nowadays, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Based on the origin, the total fertility rate of men and women in Finland throughout 2021, was the highest among women of foreign background born abroad (1.7), followed by women of foreign background (1.65), making an average of 1.45 fertility rate of women in Finland. Women of Finnish background, have a fertility rate of a little above 1.4.

As per men, the total fertility rate was a little above 1.3 with men of Finnish background having a slightly lower fertility rate than this average. On the other hand, the fertility rates of men of foreign backgrounds and those with foreign backgrounds and born abroad, had approximately a 1.45 fertility rate, respectively.

The most common background countries for women with a foreign background who gave birth from 2018 to 2021 were the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Somalia and Iraq.

In general, the population in the European Union has decreased in the recent decade, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the population rates in the zone.

As Eurostat, the European Office for Statistics previously revealed that 2020 recorded the first decline in population, mainly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which, the population dropped from 447 million to 446.8 million in 2022.

“The rate of population growth has slowed down gradually in recent decades: for example, the EU population increased, on average, by about 0.7 million persons per year during the period 2005–2022, compared with an average increase of around 3.0 million persons per year during the 1960s,” the Eurostat’s report points out.

The population across the EU Member States isn’t distributed equally, with Germany reaching 83.2 million and Malta recording 0.5 million inhabitants. The European population mainly consists of Germany, France and Italy, which together account for almost half (47 percent) of all population in the zone as of January 1, 2022.

However, some countries in the EU have experienced increases in population rates, with the largest increases being recorded in France, with 185,900 more people and the smallest in Estonia (1,700). On the other hand, the largest decreases recorded were in Italy (253,100) and the lowest was in Slovenia (1,800).