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Press release 28.4.2009

Statistics Finland is collecting data on Finnish people's time use

Statistics Finland is conducting an extensive survey of time use among the population in Finland. The survey studies topics like the length of people's working day, and time spent on domestic work, studying or leisure hobbies.

For the survey Statistics Finland will interview 4,500 households whose members form a sample representing the total population aged 10 and over in the whole country. The respondents have been drawn randomly from the population database. The interview survey started in April 2009 and will end in May 2010. Initial results will be available in autumn 2010. More extensive survey results will be published in 2011.

The Time Use Survey is now conducted in Finland for the fourth time. The data of the previous survey round were collected between 1999 and 2000. The current survey will show how time use has changed in Finland in a decade: have people's working hours changed, do they spend more time on commuting, have extended store opening hours influenced time use, do people seep less or has their daily rhythm changed.

"According to the previous Time Use Survey, the rhythm of daily life has been shifting to later and later in Finland. They start work later, so they also go to bed and get up later. This new survey round will tell us whether the growing prevalence of computers and Internet connections has changed people's everyday life. Ten years ago, the influence of computers and the Internet could only be seen in the time use of young people," says Senior Researcher Hannu Pääkkönen from Statistics Finland.

The Time Use Survey is conducted much in the same way in over ten European countries so the obtained results are internationally comparable. The results from the Time Use Survey are utilised by researchers, and by political and economic decision-makers. The data are exploited in the planning of, for example, transport, social and leisure services. Data on time use are also need in calculating the economic value of the unpaid work done in households.

The co-operative partners in the survey are the Finnish Ministries of Education, Environment, and Transport and Communications, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the National Consumer Research Centre, the Central Union for Child Welfare in Finland, the Family Federation of Finland and the Finnish Broadcasting Company.

Inquiries: Ms Riitta Hanifi +358 9 1734 2946, Ms Iiris Niemi +358 9 1734 3233, Mr Hannu Pääkkönen +358 9 1734 3229

Director in charge: Ms Riitta Harala

Home page of Time Use Survey