Induced abortions

Number of induced abortions continued to increase

In 2024, almost 8,650 abortions, or 7.3 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (aged 15–49), were performed.

In 2024, there were 5.9 induced abortions per 1,000 women aged under 20. There are significantly fewer abortions for young women than 10 years earlier and fewer than for all women of reproductive age on average.

In 2024, 3.4 per cent more abortions were performed than in 2023. According to registration notifications submitted to THL’s Register on Induced abortions, there was also a slight increase in abortions in 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, there was an exceptional decline (-6.9%) in the number of abortions in 2021 compared to 2020, which is probably related to the restrictive measures imposed to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.

Despite the increase in the number of induced abortions between 2022 and 2024, the number of abortions has clearly decreased in the first two decades of the 21st century. Compared to the status ten years earlier, the number of abortions was 11.9% lower in 2024. In the early 1970s, the number of abortions performed each year was still on average 22,000.

Impacts of new legislation

The increase in the number of induced abortions does not appear to be related to the legislative amendment adopted in September 2023. There was already a slight increase in the number of abortions before that in 2022 and before September in 2023.

The updated Act on Induced Abortion (239/1970) entered into force in September 2023. As of 1 September 2023, the grounds for abortion are always a request from the pregnant person if the gestation has lasted 12+0 weeks or less. There is no need to provide a justification for the request.

One of the aims of the amendment was to make the abortion process smoother. In fact, the new Act had succeeded in reducing the average length of gestation at the time of abortion: in 2024, it was 55.6 days (approximately 8+0 weeks of gestation), compared to 58.5 days before the amendment in 2022 (approximately 8+3 weeks of gestation).

Induced abortions per 1000 women of same age 1975-2024
Year	Under 20 year-olds	All age groups
1975	21,2	17,9
1976	20,4	16,4
1977	19,5	14,7
1978	19,8	14,0
1979	19,5	13,0
1980	19,4	12,3
1981	17,9	11,5
1982	17,9	11,2
1983	21,2	10,7
1984	20,9	10,9
1985	20,7	11,0
1986	19,5	10,6
1987	17,5	10,3
1988	16,8	10,1
1989	16,8	10,1
1990	15,6	9,7
1991	13,5	9,3
1992	12,4	8,7
1993	10,9	8,2
1994	10,7	7,9
1995	11,0	7,8
1996	11,4	8,3
1997	12,0	8,2
1998	13,0	8,7
1999	14,1	8,8
2000	14,8	9,0
2001	15,4	8,9
2002	16,3	9,2
2003	15,3	9,0
2004	15,8	9,4
2005	15,0	9,3
2006	14,2	9,1
2007	13,5	9,0
2008	12,8	8,9
2009	12,9	9,0
2010	12,2	8,8
2011	12,7	9,2
2012	11,0	8,8
2013	10,5	8,7
2014	9,2	8,5
2015	8,5	8,3
2016	7,9	8,3
2017	7,5	8,2
2018	6,4	7,6
2019	6,5	7,7
2020	6,4	7,3
2021	5,9	6,8
2022	5,7	7,0
2023	5,9	7,2
2024	5,9	7,3

About the data in more detail

Database reports

Background information

Source

Induced abortions 2024
Statistical Report 20/2025, 23.4.2025.
Official Statistics of Finland, Induced Abortions. THL.

Description of the statistics

The abortion statistics contain data on legally performed abortions. The statistics include trend data from 1975 onwards.

The Register on Induced abortions contains data on issues such as previous pregnancy outcomes, contraceptive method used at the start of pregnancy, duration of the pregnancy, the grounds for abortion, the abortion method used, the planned contraceptive method after the procedure, and possible complications within a month of the abortion.