When studying populations, the two most important things to consider are the birth rate and the mortality rate. These two numbers are ratios that describe the number of people that are born or die during one year per thousand inhabitants. These two ratios, as well as the migration to and from the area, are direct factors that affect the size of a population.

Diseases, access to food, natural catastrophes, wars and poverty are all indirect factors that can also affect the size of a population. For example, poor agricultural yields will increase malnourishment and contribute to the mortality rate, whereas a good health care system reduces the mortality rate and increases the birth rate. 


Changes in the population: people born during a year + immigration - people who die during a year - emigration.

Natural population growth is the difference between a society's the birth rate and mortality rate. When the number of emigrants are taken away from this number and the number of immigrants is added to it, the result is the actual population growth of a society.

When migration is targeted from one country to another, the phenomenon is called emigration. Internal migration is a term that means the movement of people within the borders of one country. There is a lot of internal migration in Finland, which has resulted in some municipalities becoming net migration areas, whereas some have become net emigration areas. Net migration areas receive more people each year than leave them, whereas net emigration areas lose more people every year than gain them.

Some people have moved away from Finland in the past, but have decided to move back later. These people are called returning migrants. The Finns that live outside the borders of our nation are called expatriate Finns. There are over one million such people in the world, most of them living in Sweden.

A person that moves to another country by their own free will is called a migrant. If a person must leave their home country because they fear violence, discrimination or persecution there, this person is called a refugee. The United Nations describes a refugee as a person that has to leave their country because they are persecuted in their home nation due to their nationality, ethnicity, religion, social status or political opinion. 

Those who have to leave their home region because of famine or an environmental catastrophe are called environmental refugees. A person has to leave their home because of an environmental catastrophe somewhere in the world every second. Over 20 million people have to evade floods, storms and other natural catastrophes evert tear. This number has been estimated to grow to over 200 million by the year 2050. 

Some Finns have had experience of life as refugees during World War II. A refugee can also seek for protection from another nation, such as Finland. If the immigration authorities deem the person's need for protection real and pressing, the person will receive asylum. When this occurs, the asylum seeker receives an official refugee status in the nation. 


A large number of refugees have fled Syria during the last few years.