The population growth in 2023–2024 clearly exceeded the annual growth over the past 22 years, as the average growth in 2000–2022 was 4 ,900 people per year.
Helsinki accounts for significant share of population growth in Uusimaa
The total population growth in Uusimaa was 22,763 people, meaning that the growth in Helsinki accounted for 42 per cent. When looking at other cities in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Espoo had a population growth of 6,900 people and Vantaa 3,800 people. Overall population growth in Finland was focused in the Helsinki metropolitan area, as the area’s share of the population growth in 2024 was 63 per cent.
Growth strongest among working-age population
The working-age population of people aged 30–49, in particular, saw the most growth; they accounted for half of the total growth – 4,700 people. The ageing of the population was exhibited in the strong increase in the oldest age groups, as the number of people who are 75 and older increased by 2,200. The number of children under school age remained roughly the same as the previous year, and the number of school-aged children increased by 750.
Share of foreign language speakers exceeded 20 per cent
The number and share of people in Helsinki who speak a foreign language continued the strong growth of the previous years. At the end of the year, Helsinki had 139,832 residents whose mother tongue was not Finnish, Swedish or one of the Saami languages. During 2024, the number of foreign language speakers grew by 7,954, while the same figure for Finnish-speaking people was 1,462 and 101 for Swedish-speaking people. The share of foreign language speakers of the entire population increased from 19.6 per cent to 20.4 per cent.
The most common foreign languages in Helsinki at the end of 2024 included Russian, Somali, Arabic, English and Estonian. The numbers of people whose mother tongue is Somali, Bengali, Nepali, English or Arabic increased the most over the past twelve months. At the end of 2024, the residents of Helsinki had 143 different mother tongues.
Information on births, deaths and migration in 2024 will be published later this spring.
