Helsinki has reached a historic milestone with the city’s population exceeding 700,000. According to calculations by the City of Helsinki Urban Research and Statistics Unit, the 700,000-resident mark will be exceeded around mid-August. Helsinki has been experiencing record-breaking population growth over the last couple of years. The previous similar milestone was reached in August 2012, when Helsinki’s population hit the 600,000 mark.
Since the 2010s, approximately 80% of Helsinki’s population growth has been due to migration from abroad and from other parts of Finland. In 2025, net migration accounted for 90% of the city’s population growth.
“Helsinki’s growth into a city of 700,000 residents is a testament to our city’s appeal, its opportunities and its vibrant urban life. Behind this milestone lie 700,000 different people and stories from Helsinki. The most important thing is that every Helsinki resident can feel that they are part of our city and live a good and meaningful life in Helsinki on their own terms,” says Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov.
Working-age people are the fastest-growing population group
Helsinki’s population has been growing by an average of 5,600 people a year since 2000. In 2025, Helsinki’s population grew by more than 10,000 people.
At the moment, the fastest-growing population group is working-age people. In Helsinki, the largest age group is 25–34-year-olds, whereas elsewhere in Finland the typical resident is aged 55–64.
“The working-age population is expected to continue growing rapidly in the coming years as well. In terms of the city’s total dependency ratio, this development is very positive,” says Hertta Sydänlammi, a demographer at the City of Helsinki.
As is the case across Finland, the number of older residents is also growing in Helsinki. In 2025, 11% of Helsinki’s population growth was due to natural population growth, which means that more people were born than died. This figure has been falling at a relatively steady rate in recent years.
According to population projections, Helsinki will be a city of one million in the 2060s
Helsinki is following a similar trajectory to cities such as Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen in terms of population growth. Helsinki’s population growth has, admittedly, been slower than these cities, but are there aspects of the city’s development that could serve as a model for other places?
“Spatial segregation in Helsinki has intensified over the last ten years, but at the same time Helsinki has succeeded in taking significant steps to prevent segregation. An excellent example of this is the suburban regeneration project carried out in the district of Myllypuro, which has succeeded in improving the area from everyone’s point of view,” says Sydänlammi.
According to population projections, Helsinki’s population will exceed 800,000 by the end of the 2030s and 900,000 by the mid-2050s, reaching one million in the 2060s.
Helsinki residents are a diverse lot
The number of Helsinki residents born abroad has more than tripled this century. The share of Helsinki residents who were born abroad is 19%, while the share of foreign nationals is 13%.
The share of foreign-language speakers, meaning those whose mother tongue is something other than Finnish, Sámi or Swedish, was 21% in Helsinki at the end of 2025, compared to 11% in Finland as a whole.
“Helsinki is an extremely diverse city, and we have over 150 registered native languages. It’s wonderful that Helsinki is such an appealing place that people from so many different corners of the world want to come and live here,” says Sydänlammi.