Regional differences in ageing require regionally targeted policy measures

The authors, Kauppinen and Nevanto, show that the link between ageing and low income has evolved in Finland. During the 2000s, regions with faster population ageing often experienced rising low-income shares, particularly in rural and eastern areas. By the 2010s, however, this association weakened or even reversed: in many regions, faster ageing coincided with declining low-income rates. Regional vitality largely explains these patterns. In strong, urban regions, ageing no longer implies economic decline, while in less vital areas, ageing and disadvantages still reinforce each other. The findings underscore that ageing and socioeconomic change are intertwined but highly context-dependent, calling for regionally tailored policy responses.

This is the first issues of The Nordic Yearbook of Population Research (NYPR), formerly known as The Finnish Yearbook of Population Research. We expand our horizons to include Nordic and Baltic colleagues, who have also previously frequently featured on our volumes. As previously, The Nordic Yearbook of Population Research is published together with the Migration Institute of Finland, the Finnish Demographic Society and Väestöliitto.

The Nordic Yearbook also features a study by Kridahl and Seldén, who examine the timing of retirement by age in relation to fertility in Central and Eastern Europe. The study investigated how age at first birth, numbers of children, age of the youngest child, and birth spacing among women and men born between 1940 and 1950 in six Central and Eastern European countries related to retirement. The results show that parents generally retire earlier than childless individuals, whereas those with young children tend to retire later. In the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, women with three or more children retire later, as do women in the Czech Republic and Estonia with longer birth spacing. Overall, childbearing histories exert only a modest influence on retirement timing in these regions.

Tanskanen, Danielsbacka, and Rotkirch compared the size of kinship and friendship networks among Swedish- and Finnish-speaking Finns using population-based surveys of baby boomers and their adult children. While no differences were found in kinship network size, Swedish speakers reported significantly larger close friendship networks than Finnish speakers in both older and younger generations. The article suggests that having more close friends is one of the social capital factors that characterize Swedish-speaking Finns.

Komušanac’s study explored millennials’ views on labour immigration to Croatia through semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996, does not perceive foreign workers as an economic, social, or security threat. However, respondents advocate for greater state involvement in introducing mechanisms to limit the number of foreign workers and for a more active approach to their social and linguistic integration.

Hanika’s research examined municipalities that hold record values in ageing measures such as the share of the population aged 65 and over, mean age, and the prospective old-age dependency ratio across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The study provides a novel municipal-level perspective on population ageing in the Nordic countries, revealing substantive differences within and between countries in how record-oldest municipalities evolve.

Nordic Yearbook of Population Research. Vol 58 (2025)

More information

Alyona Artamonova, guest editor, Väestöliitto
alyona.artamonova@vaestoliitto.fi

Elisa Tambellini, guest editor, Väestöliitto
elisa.tambellini@vaestoliitto.fi

Tiina Helamaa, editorial secretary, Väestöliitto
tiina.helamaa@vaestoliitto.fi

---

The Nordic Yearbook of Population Research is published together with the Migration Institute of Finland, the Finnish Demographic Society and Väestöliitto. 

---