Statistics Finland

Social Statistics Department

PO Box 3B, FI-00022 Statistics Finland

Building permits granted: number of dwellings (PNUM).

Building permits per square meters of useful floor area (PSQM).

Classification of types of construction.

Classification of buildings.

Activities covered: building construction, new buildings (Annex B of the STS Regulation, variables 411 and 412).

Size classes covered: Some small, unimportant buildings, which can be built without building permit are excluded.

Volume in cubic metres,
gross floor area (=total area of storeys of the building),
number of new dwellings (apartments),
floor area of dwellings in new dwellings (The floor area is a calculated area according to the inner surfaces of walls which surround one apartment).

Reporting unit: The reporting unit is the principal of the building project. Building permits granted by a municipal authortities.

Observation unit: All new buildings and extensions of old buildings.

The population consist of the construction activities, which demands a building permits granted by a municipal authortities.

Building permits indicators:
- Number of dwellings: CPA codes (new residential buildings only)
- Square metres of useful floor: CPA codes (new residential and non-residential buildings only)

Geographical area covered: the whole country.

Statistics Finland collected the basic data 1956-1981 and after that the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (formerly Central Population Register).

Not relevant (data provided in absolute figures).

Absolute values. Number of dwellings (PNUM) and square meters of useful floor area (PSQM).

Month

Responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating statistics

The Statistics Act (280/04) is the general act for the National Statistical Service (NSS). It contains the principles for the data collection, processing, and dissemination of official statistics. The act defines the roles of statistical authorities (Statistics Finland, Customs, National Institute for  Health and Welfare, and Tike, Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) and other authorities producing statistics. The Statistics Finland Act (48/1992)  states that Statistics Finland (SF) shall provide for the general development of official statistics in collaboration with other central government authorities.

The aim of the NSS is to produce official statistics, Official Statistics of Finland (OSF). European law (especially the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics (EC) No 2019/2152) applies to a large portion of OSF.

Ensuring statistical reporting The Statistics Act requires that the primarily exploited sources for statistical purposes shall be the data accumulated in the administration of general government and the data produced as a consequence of the normal activities of employers, self-employed persons, corporations, and foundations. SF has the right to have access to these data under the Statistics Act. In addition, all public and private entities in Finland are obliged to provide SF with data on their finances, products and staff as necessary for the production of statistics. The right of SF to collect data by virtue of the obligation does not extend, however, to data that are kept confidential for reasons of international relationships, public safety, the interest of national defence, or the safety of the state. Before any data collection based on the obligation, the statistical authority must consult the respondents or their representatives about the contents, timing, collection methods, duration of storing of the data as well as about costs. Besides those data obtained directly from administrative sources data from natural persons are always collected on voluntary basis by using interviewing or mail and web surveys. In addition, the interviewees must be informed in advance in a written form. The Statistics Act stipulates that a data provider who willfully fails to provide the obligatory data or willfully provides false data shall be sentenced to a fine. Nevertheless, SF is allowed to refrain from bringing charges if the violation is regarded as minor, but in practice charges have not been filed.

Data sharing and coordination among data producing agencies According to the Statistics Act, data obtained by four statistical authorities may be released to other parties either if permitted by legal provisions explicitly concerning the NSS, or upon express consent of the subject of the data. As far as statistical authorities are concerned they are allowed to transmit confidential data with identifiers to each other if it is deemed necessary for the production of statistics. The same applies to the European Statistical System authorities (ESS Authorities). Co-ordination among data-producing agencies is normal practice at both specialist and top level. Data is delivered only to Eurostat.

Confidentiality of individual reporters' data Several legal acts guarantee that individual data should be kept confidential. According to the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999) data collected for statistical purposes are confidential. The rule is not applied to the publicity of data describing the activities of central and local government authorities and production of public services or to certain data in the Register of Enterprises and Establishments.

Under the Statistics Act, statistics shall be compiled so that the respondents whom they concern are not directly or indirectly identifiable. Violation of the secrecy obligation is punishable under the Penal Code. At the EU level, similar assurances are included in Council Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

Details regarding the protection of information on private individuals are laid down in the Finnish Personal Data Act (523/1999). The Statistics Act obliges statistics-producing authorities to inform respondents in writing or in other appropriate manner about the intended use of the data, the procedures to be used in producing the statistics, the principles governing whether the provision of data is obligatory or voluntary, the rights of the respondents, the arrangements for protecting the data, and the duration the data will be stored. The Statistics Act allows a statistical authority to grant access to confidential data for use in scientific research or statistical surveys if statistical units cannot be identified directly from them. The right to use data may be given in compliance with a well-defined process including a written application.

SF has implemented procedures to prevent disclosure of any individual data provider. It has published guidelines on how to apply the Statistics Act and the Personal Data Act, as well as guidelines on the protection of tabulated data on enterprises and individual persons. A section on data protection is included in the SF publication Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics. Micro data concerning individual persons released for scientific research are first edited to remove variables that would make it possible to directlyidentify individual persons such as name, address or personal identification number. Similar procedures are used with respect to sensitive information about units other than individual persons. 

Data is not confidential at the classification level used in the publication.

Release schedule for the coming year, specifying precise dates of national release, is published in the Release Calendar in December by Statistics Finland.

The calendar is available on the website of Statistics Finland https://www.stat.fi/en/statistics/ras#calendar.

Simultaneous release.

The  key monthly and quarterly results  are released simultaneously to all interested parties on predefined days on the home page of the Building and dwelling production https://www.stat.fi/en/statistics/ras. According to the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, statistical data considered as sensitive information may not be disclosed to a third party prior to their publication.

Commenting on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics SF operates along the lines of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. SF has issued guidelines on how to respond to misuse of statistics. If erroneous interpretation or misuse of statistics is detected, contact is established to explain the issue. Concerning errors in the media, the DG may write a letter to the editor-in-chief.

Transmissions to Eurostat: Building permits ( number of dwellings and square metres of useful floor area) monthly.

National dissemination: Building permits monthly.

Not applicable.

A monthly publication is made available to the media and the public free of charge. The building permits, granted are published monthly online: https://www.stat.fi/en/statistics/ras

Figures are published in the StatFin-databank of Statistics Finland http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__rak__ras/.

Micro data access Statistics Finland's researcher services offer unit-level data, i.e. micro data, for scientific studies and statistical surveys. The conditions and rules with respect to data access can be found on the home page http://stat.fi/tup/mikroaineistot/index_en.html

Dissemination on request. Tailored tables and data files are provided for a fee.

Transmissions to Eurostat on monthly basis.

Advance notice is given to the public when major changes are introduced in methodology, sources, and statistical techniques. Information on revisions in statistics. In case of major changes, briefings for the main users and press will be organised.

Not available.

Quality policy

The main lines of quality management at SF are defined in the handbook Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics. There is also a group for the management of quality and processes at SF. The group reports to the DG. Statistical Methods unit takes care of methodology for quality assurance e.g. in sampling and editing-imputation process. SF develops its activities according to the Total Quality Management principles. It has been influenced by, among other things, the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model, the United Nations’ Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and Handbook of Statistical Organization, as well as the European Statistics Code of Practice. The quality criteria of OSF are harmonised with the respective criteria of the European Statistical System.

Impartiality of statistics

Section 11 of the Finnish Statistics Act contains the requirement that statistics should be as reliable as possible, give a truthful picture, and make use,if possible, of uniform concepts, definitions, and classifications, as well as be timely. Similar provisions can be found in EU legislation. The Statistics Act, the Statistics Finland Act, and the Council of State Decree on Statistics Finland (1063/2002) and several other legal provisions support SF’s professional independence:

• Section 3 of the Statistics Finland Act decrees that the internal organisation of SF is defined in internal Rules of Procedure which are decided by SF’s Director General (DG);

• Section 1 of the Council of State Decree on SF gives the DG the right to manage the activities and finances of SF;

• Section 5 of the Council of State Decree lays down that the DG shall be appointed by the Council of State for a fixed term. The nomination is made after open competition. The Decree also gives the DG the right to appoint the staff of SF, including directors of the departments as well as other staff members unless the decision-power has been delegated in the Rules of Procedure to some other official of SF;

• Section 10 of the Statistics Act provides that data processing shall take place in accordance with good statistical practice and the international recommendations and procedures generally applied in the field of statistics.

Selection of sources, methodology, and modes of dissemination.

The selection of sources, methodology and modes of dissemination of SF statistics are decided by SF alone. According to the Statistics Act, the choice of data sources, statistical techniques, and methods of dissemination should be based on statistical considerations (Sections 3, 10, 11, and 12). There are also responsibilities regarding cost-efficiency and the response burden of data collections (Section 4).

Quality monitoring

The top management of SF has made several self-assessments in line with the EFQM model. There have also been external audits by e.g. the EU and IMF experts. Processes are in place to monitor the quality of the statistical process and the processes of individual statistics. Quality considerations are an integral part of the planning and evaluation of the statistical programme.

The process owner of statistical production and it’s supporting group monitor the quality and steer the standardisation of work processes.

Statistics Finland has an internal quality audit system. The main objectives are to evaluate the ways of working, methods and techniques. An audit is carried out by an audit team of experts who are external in the sense that they do not have any direct connection with the production process in question. About 8 audits are carried out yearly.

Monitoring user requirements

Co-operation between SF and important users with regard to the relevance of statistics and the users’ needs consists of an extensive feedback system and co-operative working groups with the main users, such as users of national accounts. There are regular meetings of SF directors and experts with the users, even at the senior management level. Users are usually also invited to participate in discussions concerning the establishment of new statistics or revisions of existing ones.

The users are mainly experts in construction industry,  market analysts in building area and other organisations attending the building and construction area.

There are specific feedback systems for receiving the users’ opinions at SF. These systems consist of an anonymous feedback channel on the web, media monitoring, surveys among different user groups for the evaluation SF’s performance, user surveys, and a system for collecting and disseminating information that is strategically important for SF. Specific statistical products conduct their own user surveys and keep in regular contact with their main interest groups. The users are statisfied with building permits indicators.

Building and dwelling production data meet the requirements given by EU’s Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98.

The statistics on building and dwelling production are based on the notifications submitted by municipal building supervision authorities to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency about building projects subject to building permits and their building stages. Because of the slow accumulation of the data the preliminary figures revise for next couple of months.

Not applicable.

The first indicator is sent to Eurostat about 11 weeks after the end of the reference period. The response rate reaches near 100% 5-6 months after the reference month.

The data reported by municipalities to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency about, is accumulated slowly and the statistics for the newest month are always based on data with undercoverage at the time of production. At the time of the first release, around 80 per cent of the data are available. Statistics Finland updates the time series as far back in history as data become available for the statistics.

The slow accumulation can cause some bias in the first estimates. There is no method to estimate the missing data.

Data is published 11 weeks after the reference month. The schedule is fixed in advance for a year. The data is revised each month Statistics Finland updates the time series as far back in history as data become available for the statistics.

Deadlines are well respected.

European definitions are used and therefore the results are internationally comparable. The whole national territory is covered.

Comparable time series are available since the year 1995.

Comparisons to other relevant sources, such as the annual data of the statistics on dwellings and housing conditions, are made seldom.

Building permits number of dwellings and square metres are coherent for common types of buildings.

Cost:

Production of building permits requires approximately 800 person-hours. Number includes both Eurostat requirements and national requirements.

Burden:

Due to register data being collected by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, there is no knowledge of the burden of respondents.

Figures are revised according to changes in the data and errors are corrected. The same revision policy is applied nationally and in transmissions to Eurostat. There is no vintage database available in Statistics Finland publication system. There is no revision calender in the statistics and no benchmarking is carried out. The main reason for revisions is the increasing completeness of the data.

The first indicator is compiled 11 weeks after the end of the reference period. Due to the slow accumulation of the register data the figures are revised every month as far back in history as data become available for the statistics. Revised figures are published monthly according to the changes in data, but not announced as such. Methodological changes, errors in the newest release and the outstandingly significant revisions are announced at the time of change. Errors are corrected immediately.

Basic monthly follow-up revisions for Building and Dwelling production data are available for public in https://pxdata.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__ras/statfin_ras_pxt_13m4.px/. The more detailed revisions are produced for Eurostat only and are not published as part of the national official statistics.

Below is presented the revision indicators calculated of PNUM and PSQM indicators. PSQM and PNUM indicators are calculated for the period 1/2021 - 12/2023.

CPA_F41001X410014 (PNUM)

• MAR = 4,5
• RMAR = 0,2
• MR = 4,5

CPA_F41001X410014 (PSQM)

• MAR = 4,8
• RMAR = 0,2
• MR = 5,2

CPA_F410011 (PNUM)

• MAR = 6,6
• RMAR = 0,3
• MR = 7,3

CPA_F410011 (PSQM)

• MAR = 6,6
• RMAR = 0,3
• MR = 7,2

CPA_F410012_410013 (PNUM)

• MAR = 4,8
• RMAR = 0,2
• MR = 3,9

CPA_F410012_410013 (PSQM)

• MAR = 4,6
• RMAR = 0,2
• MR = 4,6

CPA_F410014 (PSQM)

• MAR = 93,4
• RMAR = 0,0
• MR = 27,9

CPA_F41002 (PSQM)

• MAR = 10,3
• RMAR = 0,5
• MR = 11,1

CPA_F41002X410023 (PSQM)

• MAR = 10,1
• RMAR = 0,5
• MR = 11,0

CPA_F410023 (PSQM)

• MAR = 61,0
• RMAR = 0,3
• MR = 46,3

Administrative source data, which is basically a census.

In Finland all new building construction is subject to building permits. Municipal authorities follow and collect information about the building project and its progress. The statistics on building and dwelling production are based on the notifications submitted by municipal building supervision authorities to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency about building projects subject to building permits and their building stages.

Monthly.

The weekly data is delivered to Statistics Finlands surver every monday in txt-format and the statistical authority brings it to the system during the current week.

The most large-scale observations are validated. The technical validation is done by SAS before sending the files to Eurostat.

No special method is used. The absolute figures are published without any corrections. The percentage changes are calculated from the previous year's first preliminary figures for the corresponding month.

Residencies for communities is formed by extracting the buildings from separate building groups (the Finnish classification does not contain a separate, exhaustive group for these buildings).

It is not possible to follow the completeness of data collection.

Not available.