Home > Statistics > Families > 2006 > Families in Finland numbered 1.4 million at the turn of the year

Published: 31 May 2007

Families in Finland numbered 1.4 million at the turn of the year

At the end of 2006, there were 1,431,000 families in Finland. The number had grown by 5,000 from the previous year-end. Altogether 77 per cent of the Finnish population belonged to a family. Two-thirds of the families were married couples. Twenty-one per cent were families of cohabiting couples and just under 13 per cent were one-parent families. There were 948 families of registered same-sex couples.

Families with children (under the age of 18) numbered 589,000. Their number had fallen by 2,000 from the year before. A total of 42 per cent of the population belong to a family with children. The commonest family type, which 62 per cent of the families with children belong to, continues to be married couple with children. There were almost equal proportions of families of cohabiting couples with children and single mothers with children: 18 per cent of the former and 17 per cent of the latter among all families with children. A single carer father is still a rarity, for under three per cent of all families with children consist of just father and children. In 120 families with children the parents are a registered same-sex couple.

At the turn of the year, the average number of children still living at home in a family with children was 1.83. The final mean number of children in families with children is 2.3 today.

At the end of 2006, there were nearly 53,000 reconstituted families in Finland. A reconstituted family is one where at least one child under the age of 18 is the child of one parent only. There were 77,000 of such children. The number of reconstituted families had gone up by approximately 600 from the year before. Just over one-half of the parents of reconstituted families were cohabiting and slightly fewer than half married.

Family types by age of wife/mother 2006
(families of father with children by age of father)

Source: Families 2006, Population and Cause of Death Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Ms Marjut Pietiläinen +358 9 1734 2798, Mr Timo Nikander +358 9 1734 3250, vaesto.tilasto@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mr Jari Tarkoma

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Last updated 31.5.2007