Surveys and data collections
Statistics Finland collects data for the compilation of statistics with inquiries and data collections. However, we only ask for data when they are not available from existing public administration registers.
By participating in our inquiries and responding to our data collections you help us produce high-quality statistics to support decision-making, research and social debate.
Select inquiry
Responding is safe
We process the data as confidential. The data are published as statistics and studies from which the answers of individual respondents or enterprises cannot be identified. Statistical data can be released for statistical surveys and scientific research. Further information about data protection.
We send respondents a letter or message first
If you have or your enterprise has been selected as a respondent for a data collection, Statistics Finland will always contact you in advance by letter or email.
The letter or message explains what data will be collected and for what purpose the data will be used.
You can compare the letter you received to the letter published on our website. You can also check the login address of the form on our website.
If the survey is carried out as an interview, our interviewer always has an identity card with a photograph.
If you want to make sure that the person who contacted you works at Statistics Finland, call or send an email to the telephone interview centre:
- On-call duty, tel. +358 800 09191
- Interviewer Supervisor Johanna Luumi, tel. +358 29 551 3649
- Planning Officer Christian Ehnlund, tel. +358 29 551 3688
- haastattelut@stat.fi
Supervisors of interviewers by area
- Greater Helsinki: Planning Officer Johanna Kuttila, tel. +358 29 551 6817
- Southwest Finland: Planning Officer Emilia Peedu, tel. +358 29 551 6447
- Northern Finland: Planning Officer Tiia Koivunen, tel. +358 29 551 3212
- Central Finland: Planning Officer Mirjami Kauppinen, tel. +358 29 551 2910
- Eastern Finland: Planning Officer Marjaana Nieminen, tel. +358 29 551 3877
Respondents' contact information and contact
The contact details of individual respondents are the address, email and telephone number
as well as corresponding information in the names of members of the same household. The data derive from the Population Information System and from those authorities from which data are obtained based on the Statistics Act. In addition, contact details are obtained from public sources, such as telephone operators.
Statistics Finland is a central government authority to which the same direct marketing bans do not apply as to commercial research institutions, for example.
As a government authority, we are also entitled to receive the contact information of people who have a ban on direct marketing for survey purposes.
We always primarily try to reach the respondent selected to the inquiry. If we are unable to contact the respondents concerned, we try to reach them through some other person aged at least 18 living at the same address. We only do this in three cases:
- we do not have the telephone number of the person selected as a respondent
- we have not been able to reach the respondent after two phone call attempts
- an interview or other contact has been agreed on with the respondent but they can no longer be reached.
Principles we follow in such attempts of contacting
We try to reach the respondent through a person living at the same address:
- To reasonable extent, with respect to the duration of data collection and the number of attempts to reach the respondent
- Using the personal telephone number, email address or other personal contact information
- Primarily by telephone – after the attempt, the respondents can be informed by text message or answerphone message why we have tried to reach them.
Sometimes address data have not been updated
When we select respondents, we extract the respondents’ addresses from the Population Register data. Later we try to contact the respondents or persons living at the same address based on these data. Sometimes the address data have changed between the extraction of data and time of contacting and not all persons live at the same address anymore.
If you want contacting to stop or want to give feedback
If attempts have been made to reach you through some other person and you want the contacting to stop, you can call the telephone interview centre:
- On-call duty, tel. +358 800 09191
You can also give feedback on the contacting on our feedback form.
We get the contact information of enterprises and corporations from several sources, such as
- the Business Information System maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office and the Tax Administration
- directly from enterprises and corporations
- from Posti.
Our automated telephone service reminds data suppliers of responding to data collections
We also use automatic phone calls as reminders to respond to data collections.
Our automated telephone service calls you from numbers:
09 427 32150
0942732150
+358942732150
09 427 22301
0942722301
+358942722301
Data protection and data security are of primary importance to us. Our automated telephone service never asks for personal data or other confidential information concerning the enterprise, its contact persons or private persons.
We also answer inquiries about the data collections by email. The email addresses
of the data collections can be found on the home page of each collection.
More information about Statistics Finland's data collections
Data collections from enterprises and corporations
It is possible to log in to some of Statistics Finland's enterprise data collections with the help of Suomi.fi identification. In these data collections, the enterprise can authorise a specific person or, for example, an accounting firm to respond on behalf of the enterprise. The authorisation is granted in the section e-Authorizations in the Suomi.fi service.
The name of the mandate to be granted is Responding to data collections from enterprises and organisations. If a mandate definer is needed for the data collection, it is mentioned in the letter sent to the respondents and on the web page of the data collection.
Statistics Finland's instructions related to mandates and identification (PDF, 5 pages)
Further information on mandates on the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s website
The enterprise can request a list from Statistics Finland concerning the data collections in which it is or has been included.
Send the request to: yritystiedonkeruut@stat.fi. Enter the following in the request:
- Enterprise's Business ID
- Name and contact information of the enterprise
- Name and contact information of the enterprise contact person.
Enterprises and organisations that have been selected as a respondent for a data collection have an obligation to respond to Statistics Finland's data collections. The obligation to provide data is based on the Statistics Act (280/2004).
Exemption from the obligation can be sought based on Section 8 of the Statistics Act if responding causes unreasonable inconvenience. Unreasonable inconvenience refers to putting the respondent in an unequal position with regard to other data providers. Exemption can be sought only from individual surveys and Statistics Finland cannot grant a general exemption from all data collections. Exemption is granted for a fixed period and may be granted wholly or in part.
When we consider granting an exemption, we consider the respondents' possibilities to supply the requested data and the importance of the data in producing and utilising statistics. Unreasonable inconvenience caused to the data supplier refers to putting the data supplier
in an unequal position with regard to other data suppliers.
We cannot grant an exemption due to an enterprise's lack of resources or time or the difficulty caused by the provision of data or corresponding reasons.
How can I submit a request for exemption?
If you are considering requesting exemption, please contact us first.
You can seek exemption with a free-form written application or with the form Application for exemption from the obligation to provide data (PDF).
If necessary, download the free Adobe Reader software (adobe.com) for filling in the PDF file. Specify the data collections from which you apply for exemption in the application. You can add appendices to the application. Send the application to Statistics Finland’s Registrar’s Office.
- Postal address: Statistics Finland, Registrar’s Office, FI-00022 STATISTICS FINLAND
- Email: kirjaamo@stat.fi
- Instructions for sending encrypted email
Statistics Finland receives a wide variety of data materials from other organisations for statistical purposes. The data reception service is centrally responsible for the reception of the data materials.
Deliveries of data may be based on the obligation to provide data or other agreed cooperation. The aim is to conclude a legal data file agreement on regular deliveries of data.
One-off data materials are delivered based on data requests directed at them. The data reception service and data transmission are steered by the same rules, acts and guidelines as Statistics Finland’s other activities.
Statistics Finland's task is to collect data files describing society. Statistics Finland uses the data files it has received to compile statistics describing conditions in society and to update statistical registers. In addition, the data of the register can generally be used to compile statistics within Statistics Finland's field of operation and for this purpose be combined with data from other registers. The data can also be used for developing statistics and for experimental statistical releases.
Statistics are utilised in social decision-making and scientific research. In addition, they serve the information needs of both enterprises and private citizens by providing reliable and impartial information on how society is developing.
The vast majority (around 90%) of the data files are administrative register data, but increasingly often data are also received from enterprises and organisations. By utilising the data, Statistics Finland has been able to reduce the response burden of data suppliers. There are over 100 data producers delivering data to Statistics Finland and around 350 sets of data are received. Approximately 14,500 individual files are received each month. The large volumes of data require an organised process that enables data secure and efficient delivery and monitoring of data.
The acquisition of data files and Statistics Finland's operation are guided and regulated by the Statistics Act, Public Information Management Act and EU legislation.
Transfer of data to Statistics Finland
As a rule, the data are delivered to Statistics Finland as data transfers. Data transfer is a data secure way of delivering, retrieving and receiving data files. Data transfers are done using an SFTP connection or a browser service. The browser service is often used for deliveries with lower delivery frequency and smaller file size. The SFTP connection can be used to deliver larger files and to automate repeated data deliveries. All organisations delivering data to Statistics Finland by data transfer are provided with identifiers for using the connection.
The details of the data to be delivered are agreed on with the data supplier, such as the file naming practice, delivery frequency and file format. A file named in accordance with the instructions can be identified and the reception process of the data is accelerated. The details are agreed on and recorded in a data file agreement or a separate data request.
Data files are increasingly retrieved through various interfaces as well. In addition, Statistics Finland uses web scraping to some extent for collecting publicly available data. The mode of delivery or data transfer is considered case-specifically with the data supplier.
Instructions for using the browser service for data transfer can be found on this page as an attachment file.
Data security related to data delivery
Please find Data security in the reception of data materials (PDF) attached.
Contact
Data acquisition, data file agreements and data requests: aineistojen.vastaanotto@stat.fi
Statistics Finland web scrapes data from the Internet for statistics production. Risks related to the quality of data acquired by web scraping are identified and assessed before decisions are
made concerning web scraping. The use of web scraping as a data collection method is reported in connection with the publication of the statistics.
Statistics Finland’s web scrapers
The classification service for data collections from enterprises offers enterprises a table containing the latest information on the basic classifications of all enterprises and establishments in operation and those having closed operation after 1 January 2018.
The data are updated monthly. The file can be copied and saved as part of your enterprise's information systems.
You need a user ID and password to open the table. You can request them at: rahoitus@stat.fi
Introduction of the classification service for data collections from enterprises