Altogether 30.5 per cent of those elected in the Parliamentary elections 2023 are new Members of Parliament

The review is based on a legally valid voting register and Statistics Finland's statistical data, such as population and employment statistics and the Register of Completed Education and Degrees. Thus, the data may differ slightly from the background analysis of the candidates published on 22 March 2023, for which the legal version of the voting register and the population data for 2022 were not yet available. In this review, persons entitled to vote are examined only in terms of persons entitled to vote living in Finland, unless otherwise indicated. Background information is presented more extensively in the database tables in the StatFin database.

Two-thirds of the elected MPs were current Members of Parliament

Altogether 139, or 69.5 per cent, of the elected MPs also had seats in Parliament in the previous parliamentary term. Besides Movement Now, the Green League (84.6%) and the Christian Democrats (80.0%) have in relative terms most of the same MPs. In relative terms, the lowest number (62.5%) of the same MPs were elected from the National Coalition Party that won the elections. In the Parliamentary elections 2003 to 2019, the share of re-elected MPs among all elected MPs varied between 58 and 69 per cent.

Women's share of elected MPs fell slightly

Altogether 92 women were elected to Parliament, which is 46 per cent of all elected MPs. Compared to the 2019 elections, women's share fell by one percentage point. Women's share of candidates was now 42.9 per cent, up by 0.9 percentage points from the previous elections. Women make up the majority of persons entitled to vote, that is, 51.8 per cent of all persons entitled to vote and 51.3 per cent of persons resident in Finland.

In relative terms, the Left Alliance has the highest number of female MPs, as 81.8 per cent of their MPs are women. Women also make up the majority of the elected MPs of the Green League, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democratic Party. Except for Movement Now, from which only one MP was elected, the Swedish People's Party (33.3%) and the Finns Party (37.0%) have the lowest shares of women among elected MPs. Of the parties, the proportion of women among elected MPs is higher in the Left Alliance, the Green League, the Christian Democrats and the Finns Party than their proportion of candidates. In other parties, women's share of elected MPs is smaller than that of candidates.

In relative terms, the highest share of women was elected in the constituencies of Lapland (66.7%), Helsinki (65.2%) and Savo-Karelia (53.3%). In Mainland Finland, the lowest share of women was elected in the constituencies of Vaasa (25%) and Pirkanmaa (30%). The parliamentary seats were divided evenly between men and women in the constituencies of Satakunta, Häme, Central Finland and Oulu.

Candidates are, on average, five years younger than persons entitled to vote

The average age of the candidates is 45.8 years and that of persons entitled to vote 51.7 years. The average age of all MPs elected in the Parliamentary elections 2023 is 46.7 years. The average age of elected male MPs is 47.6 years and that of female MPs 45.6 years. By contrast, the average age of women is higher than that of men in the population entitled to vote. Female MPs are, on average, 7.3 years younger than women entitled to vote, whereas male MPs are 2.8 years younger than men entitled to vote. Forty-nine per cent of MPs aged under 40 are women, which corresponds with women's share of persons entitled to vote in the same age group, while among MPs aged over 60, women's share is under 30 per cent, but it is 55 per cent for persons entitled to vote in the same age group.

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The elected MPs of the Left Alliance (average age 40.2 years), the Green League (42.3 years) and the Centre Party (44.7 years) are younger than average. Of the parties from which several MPs were elected to Parliament, the Christian Democrat MPs have the highest average age (55.6 years).

Relatively more Swedish speakers among elected MPs than among persons entitled to vote

The share of Finnish or Sami speakers among the elected MPs was 91.5 per cent and that of Swedish speakers 7.5 per cent. Of all candidates, 90.1 per cent are Finnish or Sami speakers, 6.8 per cent Swedish speakers and 2.8 per cent speak other than national languages as their native language, that is, they are foreign-language speakers. Of the persons entitled to vote, 5.2 per cent speak Swedish as their native language and 3.1 per cent speak other than national languages. The share of foreign-language speakers among the population entitled to vote has grown steadily in the Parliamentary elections 2011 to 2023, while the share of foreign-language speakers among elected MPs has varied between 0 and 1.5 per cent over the same period without any distinct direction.

Elected MPs have more children than persons entitled to vote

On average, elected female MPs have 1.8 children and male MPs 2.2, while women entitled to vote have 1.6 and men 1.4 children. Thirty-five per cent of persons entitled to vote have never had or do not yet have children of their own, while about 30 per cent of the candidates are completely childless. Around one-fifth of the elected MPs are childless among both men and women. The lower share of childless persons compared to persons entitled to vote is partly explained by the fact that fewer candidates and elected MPs are aged under 30.

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Educational level of elected MPs continues to grow

Persons elected to Parliament are more highly educated than those entitled to vote and the candidates. Three-quarters of the elected MPs have tertiary level education, while this is the case for around 53 per cent of all candidates and for around 25 per cent of all persons entitled to vote. Just two per cent of the elected MPs rely on basic level education. Of the candidates, under seven per cent had completed only basic level education and around 21 per cent of all persons entitled to vote. This difference is partly explained by the different age structure of people entitled to vote and the candidates.

The proportion of persons with tertiary level education among persons entitled to vote has grown by good seven percentage points from the Parliamentary elections 2011. The growth was as much as 15 percentage points for the elected MPs over the same period.

Women are nowadays more educated than men, especially in the younger age groups. This is reflected strongly in the new Parliament, too. Around 84 per cent of female MPs have completed tertiary level qualifications and nearly 69 per cent of male MPs.

Income level of elected MPs higher than that of candidates

The differences in the age structure of the candidates, elected MPs and persons entitled to vote are also reflected in their labour market position: nearly all (around 98%) of the elected MPs, over 90 per cent of the new MPs, nearly 78 per cent of the candidates and slightly more than one-half of the persons entitled to vote are employed persons. Nearly one-third of persons entitled to vote were pensioners, but only around seven per cent of the candidates. Of the elected MPs, 1.5 per cent were pensioners. The latest statistical data on the population’s main type of activity are from the end of 2021.

The median disposable income of the candidates was about EUR 32,400 and that of persons entitled to vote around EUR 23,500. The candidates' disposable income is around 38 per cent higher than that of persons entitled to vote. This is largely explained by the candidates' higher level of education and the larger share of employed persons compared with persons entitled to vote. The median for the disposable monetary income of elected MPs is around EUR 64,700 per year. Income data derive from the latest confirmed taxation from 2021. Disposable monetary income refers to the monetary income after taxes that consists of earned income, property income, and current transfers.

Compared to persons entitled to vote, the disposable income of elected MPs is about 2.8 times higher and compared to candidates, almost two times higher. The difference is partly explained by the re-election of MPs who also held seats in the previous parliamentary term. However, the median disposable monetary income of new MPs was also around EUR 50,100, that is, around 1.5 times higher than that of all candidates.

Content is being loaded

When the population entitled to vote is arranged according to the income of 2021 and divided into ten equal parts, the income deciles of the population entitled to vote are generated. The highest income decile of the population entitled to vote has at least EUR 43,400 at their disposal and the lowest income decile at most EUR 10,900. Of all candidates, nearly 31 per cent belonged to the highest income decile. The majority, or around 88 per cent, of the elected MPs belong to the highest income decile. When re-elected MPs are excluded from the examination, around 60 per cent of new MPs also reach the highest income decile.