Population

• The population of Helsinki was approximately 694,392 people at the end of 2025. The city estimates that the population will exceed 700,000 people in August 2026.
• Changes in the size of the population has varied in the 2000s from a yearly decrease of nearly 400 people to a yearly increase of 10,500 people.
• During the last few years, growth has been due to migration.

At the end of 2025, Helsinki had 694 392 residents, and according to preliminary information and the city’s estimate, the population has exceeded 700,000 people in August of the current year. As recently as at the beginning of the millennium, Helsinki had 140,000 fewer residents.

Apart from a few exceptional years, Helsinki’s population has been growing throughout the 2000s by an average of 5,500 people a year. The yearly change has ranged from a decrease of nearly 400 people to an increase of 10,500 people (-0.1–1.6 %).

The proportion of immigration of the population growth varied considerably in the 2000s. At the beginning of the millennium, Helsinki experienced net emigration, but on the other hand, the 2023 net migration rate (the number of people moving into minus moving out of Helsinki) accounted for more than 95 percent of the total population growth.

The net migration rate has varied by year, from a net emigration of 1,500 people to a net immigration of 10,000 people. The net immigration from abroad was around a thousand people at the turn of the millennium, but has grown since, being 3,200 people in 2025. The effect of domestic immigration on the population growth of Helsinki has been at most 6,000 people, but the domestic migration rate has also been negative for a number of years.

The natural population growth (birth rate minus death rate) has varied significantly during the 2000s. Up until very recent years, the variation in growth has been especially due to changes in the number of births year by year. The highest number of births was a little over 7,000 children per year and the lowest just under 6,100 children per year. The number of deaths has been higher than average during the last few years. Earlier, the number of deaths remained a little over or under 5,000 people per year, but during the current decade, the number has exceeded 5,500 people per year many times.