According to the Population Register Centre, there were exactly 5,181,115 inhabitants in Finland at the end of last year.

   

Ever since the 1980s, the number of foreigners living in Finland has grown steadily. At the turn of the year, there were just over 91,000 foreigners in Finland, or 1.8 percent of the total population.

Of the foreigners

who reside in Finland permanently, the largest group is formed by the Russians. Estonians and Swedes place second and third.

   

At the end of January, the share of European Union citizens among foreigners living in Finland was 18 percent. The largest groups of EU citizens are the Swedes, British, and Germans.

   

Six percent of the population currently speak Swedish as their native language.

Women outnumbered men

in the fifteen largest cities of the country at the turn of the year. Men dominate the statistics up to the age of 54, but thereafter the figures tip towards the women.

   

Last year, the most popular Finnish names given to girls were Jenna, Laura and Veera. The top three names for boys were Aleksi, Ville, and Jere.

   

The most common last names are Virtanen, Korhonen, and Nieminen.