Home > Statistics > Families > 2016 > Annual Review > 6. Share of young people with the status of a child diminished slightly

6. Share of young people with the status of a child diminished slightly

It is difficult to get a clear picture of changes in when children leave home, as students were previously not officially considered permanent residents of their place of study. They were recorded in the population register as living with their parents. In June 1994, an act entered into force entitling everyone to choose their official municipality of residence. The legislative amendment had an effect on migration statistics until the end of the decade, although with less impact towards the end.

Children’s leaving home is described below by the number of those with the status of a child in the family. A child of a family can, however, live at home and bring his or her spouse to live with him/her or have a child, whereby the young person forming a family no longer has the status of a child of the parents’ family in the statistics but an adult in a family of his/her own. Such living arrangements are very rare in Finland. Between 1985 and 1993, even before the entry into force of the Act on the Municipality of Domicile, there was a steep fall in the percentage of young people with the status of a child. Their share also continued to decrease further after the legislation entered into force until 2013, after which the percentage share increased by two decimals. In 2016, the relative share of young people with the status of a child in the age group decreased slightly from the year before.

Table 10. Young people aged 20 to 24 with the status of a child in 1985–2016

Year	Aged 20 to 24			Living with parents			Those living with parents as proportion of all, %
	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
1985	377 267	192 738	184 529	203 186	126 280	76 906	53,9	65,5	41,7
1990	343 608	175 039	168 569	165 754	103 971	61 783	48,2	59,4	36,7
1995	305 051	156 008	149 043	126 448	79 642	46 806	41,5	51,0	31,4
2000	327 230	167 084	160 146	109 510	70 895	38 615	33,5	42,4	24,1
2005	333 936	170 710	163 226	96 473	63 875	32 598	28,9	37,4	20,0
2010	327 780	167 817	159 963	85 967	56 185	29 782	26,2	33,5	18,6
2011	332 881	170 256	162 625	85 742	55 810	29 932	25,8	32,8	18,4
2012	339 758	173 775	165 983	85 892	56 027	29 865	25,3	32,2	18,0
2013	340 871	174 276	166 595	85 676	55 532	30 144	25,1	31,9	18,1
2014	342 086	174 762	167 324	86 739	56 113	30 626	25,3	32,1	18,3
2015	339 216	173 332	165 884	85 797	55 361	30 436	25,3	31,9	18,3
2016	335 040	171 797	163 243	83 774	54 126	29 648	25,0	31,5	18,2

Young women leave home earlier than young men. Today, 68 per cent of women and 45 per cent of men have moved away from home by the time they are 20 years old. The proportion of men increased by nearly one percentage point from the year before and that of women remained unchanged.

Figure 11. Young men aged 18 to 30 by family status in 2016

Figure 12. Young women aged 18 to 30 by family status in 2016

Finland has a total of 54,000 persons who have turned 30 and hold the status of a child in their family. Of them, 75 per cent are men. However, the number of such persons with the status of a child and aged at least 30 has decreased from the previous year.

Source: Population and Justice Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Pietiläinen 029 551 2798, Timo Nikander 029 551 3250, Joonas Toivola 029 551 3355, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 24.11.2017