Finland

1. Name and address of the organization responsible for the census:

Statistics Finland, Työpajankatu 13, Helsinki, FIN-00022.

2. Population censuses conducted since 1945 (years):

1950, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000.  The present description relates to the 2000 census (held on 31 December).

Following a decision taken in 1979, the 1980 Population and Housing Census was the last one based directly on data collected through questionnaires.  The 2000 Population and Housing Census was the third full-scale census to be carried out entirely through registers and administrative records.  Preparations for register-based censuses started in 1981 and a National Register of Buildings and Dwellings based on the buildings and dwellings data from the 1980 census has been established. The census figures have been compared with a large sample-based parallel study in 1990 and then with the Labour Force Survey figures during the later census years in order to analyse the break in the time series resulting from the change in the data collection method. To determine the quality of the basic registers to be used in the census, it will be necessary to continue to carry out this kind of control and quality study of the register-based system.  The quality of the register-based system seems, however, to be very satisfactory.

3. Coverage of the census:

(a) Geographical scope: Whole country.

(b) Persons covered: All persons of all ages.

4. Reference period:

The census week (25-31 December) for current activity, and the whole year 2000 for usual activity.

5. Main topics:

(a) Total population, by sex and age: yes

Economically active population by:

(b) Sex and age group: yes

(c) Industry: yes

(d) Occupation: yes

(e) Status in employment: yes

(f) Highest educational level: yes

(g) Hours of work: no

(h) Other characteristics: yes

Re (a): The age is defined in terms of date of birth, which is obtained directly from the central population register.

Re (h): The census also collected information on: location of the place of work; legal status of the employer (private business, central Government, local Government); duration of employment and of unemployment; earnings; socio-economic status.

6. Concepts and definitions:

(a) Economically active population: It comprises all persons aged 15 to 74 years who, during the census week, were either employed or unemployed, according to the definitions given below.  Excluded are conscripts in barracks and institutional populations.

(b) Employment: Considered as employed are all persons who, according to the Employment Pension Insurance Registers, worked at least one day during the census week (current activity concept) or at least six months during the reference year (usual activity concept), at home or out of home, and had taxable incomes according to the Taxation Registers.

It is reported that the following categories are included:

i)         persons doing unpaid work in family firm or business: only part of these persons are included, i.e., those who have an entrepreneurial pension insurance (which is not compulsory for unpaid family workers);

ii)        employed persons, temporarily absent from work;

iii)       working students with a part-time job;

iv)       seasonal or occasional workers;

v)         multiple job holders;

vi)       apprentices and trainees.

Only persons belonging to category (v) can be identified separately on the basis of information from the Employment Pension Insurance Registers. The data relating to conscripts for military/civilian service can be obtained from the special Ministry of Defence register, although these persons are excluded from the definition of the economically active population.

(c) Unemployment: Considered as unemployed are all persons who, according to the Ministry of Labour’s Register of Unemployed Job-seekers, were without work on 29 December 2000, but were seeking employment and available for work.  Students seeking work are excluded from the definition.

7. Classifications used:

Both employed and unemployed persons previously employed are classified by industry and by occupation. Only employed persons are classified by status in employment.

(a) Industry: The industry (as well as some other information) is obtained from the Register of Enterprises and Establishments of Statistics Finland which uses the same identifiers as the Taxation Registers.  The Register of Enterprises and Establishments contains the same code which can be used to transfer all information to employed persons. The procedure varies somewhat, depending on whether the enterprise has one or several establishments.  For some entrepreneurs, the industry is deduced from Pension Insurance data and from the type of income.  For coding industry, some 460 groups of the national standard industrial classification were used.  Links to the ISIC (both ISIC-rev.2 and ISIC-rev.3) have been established to the 4-digit level.

(b) Occupation: Occupation refers to the activity or work done by a person in order to obtain income.  The information used to determine occupation group is obtained from the Wage and Salary Registers of Central and Local Governments, from the Taxation Registers and from the Ministry of Labour’s Job-seekers Register. The occupational titles obtained from Registers are coded using the automatic coding system developed by Statistics Finland.  For coding occupation, some 400 groups were used.

The 2000 population census used the 2001 Classification of Occupations, which is a revised version of the 1997 Classification of Occupations.  Both these occupational classifications are based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations, ISCO-88(COM), developed within the European Union (EU).  The occupational classification is designed for greater sensitivity to the specialisation required in certain occupations.  The biggest difference between the 1997 and the revised 2001 version is that health care occupations have been moved under a different main category.  The occupational classification is so structured that occupations have a hierarchic code at different levels of accuracy. The most detailed level in the Finnish classification is the 5-digit level.  However, even the most detailed classes often contain different occupation titles. The Finnish occupational classification follows the EU’s ISCO-88(COM) application fairly accurately down to the 4-digit level.

(c) Status in employment: Status in employment is defined using information about the kind of pension insurance (employment or entrepreneurial pension) and source of income (wage or salary income or entrepreneurial income).  For coding status in employment, two main groups were used: (i) wage and salary earners, and (ii) entrepreneurs (which includes own-account workers, employers and unpaid family workers).

(d) Level of education: Data on education have been obtained from Statistics Finland’s Register of Completed Education and Degrees and describe the situation on 31 December 2000.  Education refers to any post-basic education with a duration of at least 400 hours.  Adult education (such as education arranged by employers, education provided by various organisations and associations, language courses, correspondence courses, etc.) is not included.  Only one educational qualification is taken into account for each person, i.e. the highest qualification completed or, in the case of two or more qualifications at the same level, the most recent one.  For coding education the new Standard Classification of Education has been used; its divisions into levels of education follow as far as possible the concept of level of education of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), 1997.

8. Main differences compared with the previous census:

The 2000 census was carried out as a register-based census and the data collection method was totally different from that of earlier questionnaire-based censuses.  There were, however, no major differences between the 2000 census and the previous two censuses carried out in 1990 and 1995 respectively.

9. Publication of the census results:

Key results from the 2000 population census are published in a census report, a report containing information on urban settlements and reports by topic area.

Population and Housing Census 2000:  the census report comprises mainly the methodological description and time series tables for the whole country.

Urban settlements 2000: contains information on the urban settlements formed on the basis of the year-end 2000 data on building stock and population.  It also includes data on the regional distribution and structure of urban settlement population [Population census series].

Annual publications of the census year:

-           Employment statistics:  preliminary data for 2000 are published in Employment statistics 1999-2000, which contains data on the population's main type of activity and on the industrial structure of the labour force and the employed population by municipality, region and sub-regional unit.  Employment statistics 2000-2001 provides preliminary data for 2001 and final data from 2000;

-           Buildings, dwellings and housing conditions 2000: contains data on housing and the building stock by municipality and region.  It also provides information on the housing conditions of household-dwelling units by municipality and region [Housing series];

-           Free-time residences 2000: provides information on free-time residences by municipality, region and sub-regional unit [Housing series]; 

-           Families 2000: a report containing demographic information on families has been published annually since 1994; it also contains information on individual municipalities  [Population series];

-           Population structure 2000: contains data on structure of population by age and sex, marital status, language, citizenship, etc. [Population series].

Tables on municipalities and municipal sub-areas:  Tables of varying size and detail have been compiled for individual municipalities and sub-areas within municipalities. The tables are also available for the whole country, by province, region and sub-regional unit.

Databases:  Census data are also used to update other Statistics Finland databases, such as Kuntafakta (Municipal facts, only in Finnish), Finland CD (SuomiCD) (which contains data on municipalities and post code areas), Nordic CD-ROM and Key on Europe CD (which contains data on European countries and regions).

Tailored compilations:  All population census files can be used for tailored compilations. Tailored compilations are produced to order in cases where the information required is not available in an appropriate format. Since the data include building co-ordinates, all of them can be provided for regional divisions smaller than a municipality and/or by area of choice. Census data can also be provided to order in a format that can be applied in map programs, or ready maps can be produced.  Population census data can also be combined with other Statistics Finland data sets.

The organization responsible for the publication of the census results is Statistics Finland, Työpajankatu 13, Helsinki, FIN-00022.