Thursday. 28.03.2024

In the Parliamentary elections celebrated on April 14th, Finnish people elected a record number of women to represent them. Over the next 4 years, 93 women will sit in a parliament with 200 members. This is 47% of the total seats, the highest rate in history and 5% more than among the candidates nominated by the parties, according to Statistics Finland.

The previous peak in terms of the presence of women in the Finnish Parliament was in 2011, with 85 seats.

The latest analyses of the elected members of Parliament (MPs) published by Statistics Finland highlights that the share of women with representatives in Parliament was biggest for the Green League (85%). On the contrary, the smallest share was for the party of the True Finns (30.8%).

women in parliament finland

Source: Statistics Finland.

The average age of all MPs elected in the Parliamentary elections was 46.6 years. But here also gender differences can be appreciated, since the women elected last 14 April are on average younger than men.

The average age of the elected men was 48.8 years and that of women was 44.1 years. The average age of the elected MPs was also lowest for the Green League (42 years) and highest for the Christian Democrats (56.6 years).

58.5% regained their seats

Of the new Members of Parliament, 85.5% were municipal councilors. And 58.5% of the elected MPs retook their seats, says Statistics Finland.

The share of persons speaking Finnish or Sami as their native language was 92.5% of the elected MPs and 7% were Swedish speakers. The majority of the elected MPs (96.5%) were employed persons.

The median for the disposable income of the elected MPs was over EUR 55,000, over EUR 26,000 more than all candidates.

Finnish young women set the pace in politics