Väestöluettelo

Väestöluettelo is a historical term referring to a listing of the inhabitants of a community, parish, or country. In Finnish archival usage, it denotes population lists compiled by authorities to document who lived in a place at specific times, primarily during the 17th through 19th centuries. The lists were typically produced by parish priests and used for administrative purposes such as taxation, military conscription, and church duties, as well as for tracking demographic change.

Contents commonly included in väestöluettelo varied but often comprised the resident’s name, age or birth year, sex, marital status, occupation, and household relationship. Some entries recorded place of birth, origin, literacy, or property. The lists were usually compiled at the parish level and could be supplemented by related records like the household examination rolls (husförhörslängder), which tracked families and individuals over time.

Historically, väestöluettelo appeared in Finland within the framework of church administration; similar population lists existed in Sweden and other Nordic countries, reflecting shared administrative practices in the pre-modern state. The term is used by scholars and in genealogical research to describe these compiled inventories, which serve as valuable primary sources for tracing ancestry and local history.

In modern Finland, population data are managed in a centralized system (väestötietojärjestelmä) administered by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, replacing parish-based lists in the 20th century. Väestöluettelo records survive mainly as archival sources and are preserved in national and parish archives, accessible to researchers.