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Published: 26 April 2019

Number of deaths increased from the previous year

According to Statistics Finland, a total of 54,527 persons died in 2018, which is 805 more than in 2017. Average life expectancy at birth was 78.9 years for boys and 84.3 years for girls in 2018. The life expectancy increased slightly for both boys and girls compared with 2017.

Age distribution at the time of death by sex in 2018

Age distribution at the time of death by sex in 2018

In 2018, men died, on average, at the age of 75.1 and women at 82.2. So, women died, on average, 7.1 years older than men. In young age groups, a majority of deaths occurred among young men but among persons aged 84 and older there were more women than men. The median age at death for men was 77.6 years and for women 85.6 years. The median describes the middle value, that is, one-half of all persons that died, died at a younger or older age than the median age at death.

Deaths in 1930 to 2018

Deaths in 1930 to 2018

In 2018, the average life expectancy at birth was 78.9 years for boys and 84.3 years for girls. For boys, the life expectancy increased by 0.2 years and for girls by 0.1 years compared with 2017. Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a person aged 0 would live on average, provided the rate of mortality remains unchanged.

The number of children dying at the age of under one year was 101, which is at the same level as in the three previous years. In 2018, the number of infant deaths per one thousand live-born children was 2.1, which is 0.1 per mil units higher than in the previous year. Even though the number of infant deaths remained almost unchanged, infant mortality rate is slightly higher than the three previous years due to a lower number of births.

Annual number of deaths by sex and deaths of 0-year-olds in 2008 to 2018

Year Total Men Women 0-year-olds
total
2008 49 094 24 457 24 637 157
2009 49 883 25 150 24 733 158
2010 50 887 25 539 25 348 140
2011 50 585 25 335 25 250 143
2012 51 707 25 623 26 084 141
2013 51 472 25 631 25 841 102
2014 52 186 25 748 26 438 124
2015 52 492 25 992 26 500 97
2016 53 923 26 922 27 001 100
2017 53 722 26 895 26 827 102
2018 54 527 27 184 27 343 101

Source: Deaths 2018. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Katariina Heikkilä 029 551 3638, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 26.4.2019

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Deaths [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-2545. 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 29.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kuol/2018/kuol_2018_2019-04-26_tie_001_en.html