Statistics - Finland

Updated 07/2012

Legal requirements

The Statistics Act requires companies to provide certain data. Statistics Finland is one of four statistics authorities defined in the Statistics Act that are entitled to collect information for statistical purposes pursuant to the data provision obligation laid down by law. The other statistics authorities are the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (TIKE) and the National Board of Customs.

Duty of disclosure
Statistics Act

Statistical bodies

Statistics Finland and 13 other government offices or departments produce Finland's official statistics on commercial and industrial life, the economy, science and technology, and so on.

Statistics Finland
National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (TIKE)
Finnish Customs

Types of statistics

Compulsory types of statistics are those required by Statistics Finland, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (TIKE) and the National Board of Customs.

Information about Finland's trade with other EU Member States is collected using the statistical declarations, or Intrastat system, provided by companies. Statistical declarations on internal trade (Intrastat) may also be made using the electronic ItellaTYVI service form on the Internet.

In particular, voluntary statistics are collected by interest groups such as the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, but there are benefits to companies for responding directly.

Finnish Customs Intrastat
Finnish Customs' Statistical Principles Handbook 2010 [67 KB]

Administrative procedures

Submitting statistics

Information may be sent to the databases on the Statistics Finland and Finnish Customs websites.

Statistics Finland data collection service for businesses
Finnish Customs administration online
National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) statistics bank
MATILDA statistics service of the information centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (TIKE)

Resources

The Statistics Finland website includes an information search page with various tools for retrieving data, e.g. statistical yearbooks, EU data, the guide to statistics searches and the Tilda collection database.

Data search (Statistics Finland)

Statistics Finland's StatFin-palvelu Provides, for example, statistical data on Finland, e.g. living conditions, industries, education and training, and public finance.

StatFin Online service

Research.fi includes statistics and other information on Finnish science and technology. This service also includes links to in-depth background data: statistical and other publications, documents and databases.

Research.fi data service

In addition to research and development work, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) produces statistical data.

National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)

Check also the legislation on this topic in:

Statistics - Finland