Estimated population at the term of the year, 1 January 2008

One third of the population growth is due to there being more births than deaths, while the remaining two thirds is due to net migration from abroad. The population growth in 2007 is the highest ever recorded and 14 800 higher than in 2006, which had the highest growth to date. Labour in-migration from new EU member states in Eastern Europe, particularly Poland and Lithuania, as well as Germany and the Netherlands, strongly contributed to the population growth. The population growth mainly took place in large cities and municipalities.

The population is estimated for the country as a whole and at county and municipality level. It is based on information from the population register, using data on births, deaths and migration until 1 December 2007. The population growth in December is estimated using the same relative growth as in December 2006. If the level of births, deaths and migration changes markedly in December this year compared to last year, the population will vary correspondingly. For some municipalities it may look like the development observed so far in 2007 has changed, but this is due to the estimation method used. This is especially the case for small municipalities, which figures must be considered as a preliminary estimate.