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

It is difficult to get a clear picture of changes in when children leave home, as students were previously not officially considered as 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, apart for in 2010 when the decline halted for a moment. In 2015, the relative share of young people with the status of a child in the age group remained unchanged from the year before.

Table 10. Young people aged 20 to 24 with the status of a child in 1985–2015

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

Young women leave home earlier than young men. Today, 67 per cent of women and 44 per cent of men have moved away from home by the time they are 20 years old. The percentage share diminished for both young women and men by a few percentage points from the previous year.

Figure 11. Young men aged 18 to 30 by family status in 2015

Figure 11. Young men aged 18 to 30 by family status in 2015

Figure 12. Young women aged 18 to 30 by family status in 2015

Figure 12. Young women aged 18 to 30 by family status in 2015

Finland has a total of 55,000 persons who have turned 30 and hold the status of a child in their family. Of them, 76 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: Eevi Lappalainen 029 551 3367, Timo Nikander 029 551 3250 , Marjut Pietiläinen 029 551 2798, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma


Updated 25.11.2016

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Families [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-3231. Annual Review 2015, 6. Share of young people with the status of a child grew slightly . Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/perh/2015/02/perh_2015_02_2016-11-25_kat_006_en.html