This page is archived.

Data published after 5 April 2022 can be found on the renewed website.

Go to the new statistics page

Published: 26 March 2019

Share of earned income and capital income from agriculture in farmer families’ total income has decreased

When examining the income development of farmer families, it can be seen that the share of earned income and capital income from agriculture in farmer families’ income liable to state taxation has fallen almost continuously during the monitoring period that started at the turn of the millennium. When around 37 per cent of farmer families’ income liable to state taxation in 2000 came from combined earned and capital income from agriculture, the corresponding share has fallen to only 26 per cent in 2017. These data derive from the 2017 statistics on the finances of agricultural and forestry enterprises published now.

Share of income derived from agriculture in farmer families’ income by income bracket in 2000 to 2017

Share of income derived from agriculture in farmer families’ income by income bracket in 2000 to 2017

In 2017, around 74 per cent of farmer families received under one-half of their income liable to state taxation as combined earned and capital income from agriculture. Income is sought increasingly from outside the farm, both as a wage or salary earner, from forestry and from machine contracting, for example. In the figure, family farms are put into four groups by the size of the share of the family’s income coming from earned and capital income from agriculture.

In the review, agriculture and forestry are examined separately. The results of agricultural enterprises are examined in Section 1 of the review. In 2017, the number of active agricultural enterprises taxed on the basis of the act on the income tax of agriculture was in all 45,495 and the average result gained by them from agriculture was around EUR 17,100. The result in agriculture is the item in farm enterprises’ financial statements which is transferred to the owner of the enterprise as personal earned and capital income from agriculture. Information based on personal tax data is given in Section 2 of the review and statistics on private forestry in Section 3. Joint-stock farms are at the moment excluded from the statistics.


Source: Statistics on the finances of agricultural and forestry enterprises, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Juhapekka Kyllönen 029 551 2917

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko


Updated 26.3.2019

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Statistics on the finances of agricultural and forestry enterprises [e-publication].
ISSN=2489-320X. 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 29.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/mmtal/2017/mmtal_2017_2019-03-26_tie_001_en.html