The concepts described on these pages are words and expressions used in statistics with a specific, limited meaning. In everyday speech the word may have a different meaning. In connection with each definition you can find information about which sets of statistics use the concept.

If you are looking for statistical figures, go from the definition to the statistics page.

Economic activity

This item indicates whether a person has been in the economically active population for most of the year. The economically active population is defined as comprising all persons aged betweeen 15 and 74 who were employed or unemployed for at least six months during a year.

Since the 1985 population census, main type of activity has been determinded on the basis of the concept of labour force, in which the reference period is the last week of the year (instead of the full year). However, the concept of economic activity provides complementary information on employment.

Under this concept the population is divided into the following groups:

Economically active
- employed
- unemployed

Economically inactive
- children aged 0-14
- students
- pensioners
- conscripts, conscientious objectors
- other economically inactive

Economic activity is determined on the basis of monthly data on employment and unemployment from different sources. Part of the population has been classified as economically active on the basis of their earned income.



Statistics using the definition

Validity of the definition

  • Valid

Source organisation

  • Tilastokeskus

Jaa