Home pregnancy test showing a positive result.
After years of decline in the 2010s, the number of abortions carried out in Finland began to rise in 2022.
About a third of women who ended their pregnancies last year had at least one abortion in the past.
More than 9,000 abortions were performed in Finland last year, according to a statistical report from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). The figure reflects a nearly four-percent increase compared to 2024.
After years of decline in the 2010s, the number of abortions carried out in Finland began to rise in 2022. Women are increasingly likely to have had multiple abortions, according to THL. Last year, more than one in three of the procedures were in women who had terminated a pregnancy at least once before.
Last year, nearly 10 percent of that group had their most recent abortion within the past two years.
THL said it is unclear what may have prompted the recent uptick in abortions, suggesting there are several possible reasons.
One reason is that in 2024, noted in the article, is that wait times to get a vasectomy stretched up to three years. Another reason might be access to self-managed abortion with pills, but the article does not mention this. Still another is that there has been an increase in the numbers of people from other countries granted Finnish citizenship in 2025, some from countries with higher birth rates than Finland; this was mentioned but has not been studied.
SOURCE: YLE News, 11 May 2026. PHOTO: Grigory Vorobyev/Yle