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Lahti’s population rose to a new thousand in May

According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, the population of Lahti stood at 121 026 at the end of May 2024. The city's population has increased by 333 since the beginning of the year and by 650 inhabitants from a year ago. In May, the population increased by 57 inhabitants. Since the start of the year, Lahti has seen the sixth-highest population growth among large cities in Finland and by far the highest among municipalities in the Päijät-Häme region.

The population growth was fueled by income migration and brisk immigration. In the period of January-May, Lahti welcomed 1,917 in-migrants from other municipalities, surpassing the 1,793 out-migrants, resulting in a net gain of 124 inhabitants.

In the first five months of the year, Lahti has seen the highest positive net migration from Jyväskylä, Asikkala, Lappeenranta, Mäntsälä, and Joensuu. Conversely, the city has experienced the most negative net migration to Helsinki, Vantaa, Tampere, Kerava, and Porvoo.

When examining the net migration in Lahti by the main activity of the movers, we see that in January-February 2024, the city experienced a positive migration trend among students and schoolchildren (+26), employed individuals (+21), pensioners (+17), and 0-14 year olds (+8). However, there was a migration loss for the unemployed (-19).

There were 456 more immigrants than emigrants. According to the preliminary statistics for May, 542 persons moved to Lahti from abroad in January-May and 86 persons moved abroad from Lahti. There were 15 more immigrants and 4 more emigrants than in January-May last year. From the beginning of 2024, 252 Ukrainians will have Lahti as their place of residence.

In January-May, there were 236 fewer births than deaths. A year ago, the corresponding figure for the same period was 332. In January-May, 344 children were born, 31 more than in the same period in 2023, while the number of deaths was 580, 65 fewer than a year earlier.