structural:reformatting, structural:summarization
Demographics

Population by continent of origin (2023)

The population of Finland is currently about 5.6 million. The current birth rate is 7.8 per 1,000 residents, for a fertility rate of 1.26 children born per woman, one of the lowest in the world, significantly below the replacement rate of 2.1. In 1887 Finland recorded its highest rate, 5.17 children born per woman. Finland has one of the oldest populations in the world, with a median age of 42.6 years. Approximately half of voters are estimated to be over 50 years old. Finland has an average population density of 18 inhabitants per square kilometre. This is the third-lowest population density of any European country, behind those of Norway and Iceland, and the lowest population density of any European Union member country. Finland's population has always been concentrated in the southern parts of the country, a phenomenon that became even more pronounced during 20th-century urbanization. Three of the four largest cities in Finland are situated in the Helsinki metropolitan area —Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. In the largest cities of Finland, Tampere holds the third place after Helsinki and Espoo while also Helsinki-neighbouring Vantaa is the fourth. Other cities with population over 100,000 are Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, and Lahti.

Finland's immigrant population is growing. As of 2023, there were 571,268 people with a foreign background living in Finland (10.2% of the population), most of whom are from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Sweden, Iraq, China and India. The children of foreigners are not automatically given Finnish citizenship, as Finnish nationality law practices and maintain jus sanguinis policy where only children born to at least one Finnish parent are granted citizenship. If they are born in Finland and cannot get citizenship of any other country, they become citizens. Additionally, certain persons of Finnish descent who reside in countries that were once part of Soviet Union, retain the right of return, a right to establish permanent residency in the country, which would eventually entitle them to qualify for citizenship. As of 2023, 535,451 people in Finland were born in another country, representing 9,6 % of the population. The 10 largest foreign born groups are (in order) from Estonia, Sweden, Iraq, Russia, China, Ukraine, India, Somalia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Turkey.

Finland's national minorities include the Sami, Romani people, the Jews and the Tatars. Romani people of the Finnish Kale group settled in the country at the end of the sixteenth century.