Documentation of statistics hunting

Data description

The hunting statistics contain an overview of harvest of game species and the number of hunters during the statistical year (calendar year).

Classification system

The regional division used in the hunting statistics follow the regional division of the Finnish Wildlife Agency. Estimates of harvest data include the region where game was harvested. The number of hunters and hunting days is given by the region the hunter’s game management association. A hunter is a person who has completed the Finnish hunting exam and has paid the game management fee during the statistical year.

Sector coverage

It can be assumed that data on game requiring a hunting license covers the entire bag, as hunters must report their harvest to the license administrates. Data on the harvest of species under mandatory harvest reports covers all reports. Data on the harvest of other game species is based on a sample survey.

Statistical concepts and definitions

The Hunting Act (615/1993) describes game species and non-protected species.

A hunter is a person who has completed the Finnish hunting exam and has paid the game management fee during the statistical year, regardless of if they have hunted or not. Active hunting means hunting with a weapon, dog, or such, so that the hunter is continuously present. Passive hunting includes hunting with traps.

The regional division used follows the regional division of the Finnish Wildlife Agency. Region used in the statistics on the number of hunters is the region of the hunter’s regional game management association. Region in the statistics on the number of hunting days and bagged game volumes of small game is the region hunting took place in. The statistical period is a calendar year. It is different from the so-called hunting year, which according to the Hunting Act begins on 1st of August and ends on 31st of July. Harvest data on cervid animals collected from the Finnish Wildlife Agency is given by hunting year. 

Statistical unit

Data collection includes a sample of hunters from the register of hunters, who have paid the game management fee during the statistical year. 

Statistical population

Persons in the register of hunters who have paid the game management fee during the statistical year.

Unit of measure

The amount of bagged game is given in numbers.

Reference period

Calendar year

Reference area

The whole of Finland excluding Åland. Regions of the Finnish Wildlife Agency.

Time coverage

Information is available in the database starting from the year 1996. 

Frequency of disseminations

Yearly

Base period

The statistics are not an index. 

The statistics are compiled based on the Act on the Natural Resources Institute Finland (561/2014), the Act on Food and Natural Resource Statistics (562/2014), the Customs Act (1466/94), and the Statistics Act (280/2004).

More information: Statistics legislation

Confidentiality is a base principle of statistics and assures the confidential processing of data provided by informants, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland has undertaken to follow this principle.

More information: Privacy policy – Statistics

The disseminations of the Natural Resources Institute Finland are published online on weekdays at 9:00. Data is public after it has been published on the website.

Release calendar

Publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. The release calendar contains data on the dates of future publications. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.

Release calendar access

Statistical releases calendar | Natural Resources Institute Finland

Quality assurance

The Natural Resources Institute Finland follows the Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of European statistics when compiling statistics. The Code of Practice concern the independence and accountability of statistics authorities, and the quality of processes and published data. 

Quality assessment

The response material of the statistics is reviewed and edited. Additionally, the non-response is investigated based on variable background information. Preliminary data on hunters is collected from the register of hunters, maintained by the Finnish Wildlife Agency, which covers every person with a hunting permit.

User satisfaction

Feedback is collected from the users of the statistics, especially when revising the statistics. Feedback is also received directly. In addition, we investigated the wishes of users for developing the statistics in the autumn of 2021 and beginning of 2022, when updating the work programme for the Natural Resources Institute Finland. We follow the received feedback and take it into consideration in developing the statistics.

Overall accuracy and reliability

Due to the high response rate of the hunting survey, estimates on the number of bagged small game are fairly accurate for the whole of Finland. The sample has very little over- or under-coverage, as the register of hunters used as the survey frame is refreshed continuously. Sample-based uncertainty varies by species and region, depending on how much harvest per hunter varies. Harvest estimates are usually more accurate for species that are hunted the most. The exceptionally large game bags obtained by some hunters cause uncertainty in the game bag estimates, and this appears as, for instance, substantial confidence intervals. The effect of atypical responses on harvest estimates may be significant, particularly on a regional level. 

The harvest data for game species subject to hunting permits can be assumed to cover the entire hunting bag, as hunters are required to submit harvest information to the authorities in accordance with the permit conditions. For small game species subject to mandatory reporting, the coverage may be lower, and the reported bag can be interpreted as a minimum estimate of the actual harvest.

Estimates on the volume and value of meat from bagged game are rough. The volume of collected meat fundamentally depends on, for example, the effects of the impact on the animal and the meat processing skills of the hunter. The assumption on collected meat ratio used in calculations was 60% of the average weight of caught animals. Only a small portion of meat and fur collected from harvest ends up in sales. Expert estimates and previously also insurance companies’ compensation prices for game meat have been used as assumed prices.

Sampling error

The relative standard errors of the reported statistical quantities are presented alongside them.

Timeliness

Information is published during the year after the statistical year before the hunting season, which begins on 1st of August. This information is final.

Geographical comparability

The geographical regions in the statistics are comparable. The regional division has remained unchanged.

Comparability - over time

In 2008 the name of the Annual Game Bag was changed to Hunting Statistics. At the same time the contents of the statistics were expanded to also describe forms of hunting and hunting volumes by region. 

Game and fisheries research institute (Natural Resources Institute Finland since 2015) has compiled yearly statistics on small game bag since the beginning of the 1970s. There have been changes to the collection and processing of statistical data over the years. Data has been collected with similar methods since 1996. At the same time, the statistical period was changed from a hunting year to a calendar year.

Since 2020 certain waterfowl species of waterfowl are subject to harvest reporting duty, and bag quantities of these species are collected from the Finnish Wildlife Agency. Because the data collection method changed, their bag quantities are not comparable with previous years.

In 2010, the game management districts used as regional division were changed to regions of the Finnish Wildlife Agency. The regional division remained unchanged.

Before 2018, the sample size was 5,400 hunters, and during the years 2018–2022, it was 7,500 hunters. In 2013 and 2023, the sample was larger, as a larger sample was drawn from Northern Finland, the area referred to in Section 8 of the Hunting Act, than from other regions. Since 2024, the sample size has been 9,000 hunters.

Starting in 2024, paper forms were discontinued as a response method. In the same year, the calculation method was also revised so that the weighting coefficients were calibrated using the number of paid game management fees by age group and gender as the marginal distribution. The methodological update improved the accuracy of statistical estimates by better accounting for non-response bias.

Coherence - cross domain

Hunters can voluntarily report their harvest to the Omariista-service maintained by the Finnish Wildlife Agency. Data from the Omariista-service is not comparable to data in the hunting statistics.

Coherence – internal 

Data in the statistics is mostly coherent. The aim is to retain survey methods and questions unchanged. 

New species taken under harvest reporting duty, harvest data for which is collected from the Finnish Wildlife Agency, cause changes. In these cases, the data for these species is not comparable to older data in the statistics. For example, since 2020 a harvest of many waterflow species (greylag goose, bean goose, Eurasian wigeon, northern pintail, garganey, shoveler, common pochard, tufted duck, common eider, long-tailed duck, red-breasted merganser, goosander, and common coot) had to be reported to the Finnish Wildlife Agency. As a result, the harvest data on these species is not comparable before and after 2020. These species are indefinitely under duty to report harvest.

Source data

Final hunting statistics are based on a sample study aimed at hunters, expect for the harvest of game subject to license and harvest reporting duty, which are collected from the Finnish Wildlife Agency.

Frequency of data collection

Yearly

Data collection

Data on hunting of small game is collected using a sample survey. Surveys are mailed in January following the statistical year. From 2024 onwards, it has only been possible to respond electronically, but before that it was also possible to complete the survey on paper. Some non-respondents to the postal survey are interviewed by telephone.

The sample is picked from the register of hunters maintained by the Finnish Wildlife Agency, from those who have paid the game management fee during the statistical year. The sampling method is a regionally stratified random sample, and a hunter’s stratum is determined by the game management association to which they belong. Since 2024, 9,000 hunters have been drawn from the hunter register for the sample.

Harvest data of game species requiring license or under harvest reporting duty are collected with the hunting license system. Game species requiring hunting permit include cervid animals, bear, wolf, lynx, wolverine, seal, otter, European beaver. Game species under duty to report harvest include roe deer, wild board, western polecat, and bean goose. Since 2020, Eurasian wigeon, northern pintail, garganey, shoveler, common pochard, tufted duck, common eider, long-tailed duck, red-breasted merganser, goosander, and common coot are also under harvest reporting duty. Hunters of these species report their harvest within legislated deadlines to the game management authority that has granted them a license. Estimates on mouflon and rabbit harvests are collected as expert estimates from the regional offices of the Finnish Wildlife Agency.

Data validation

The data collected in sample survey is validated and edited in Natural resource institute Finland.

Data compilation

In the sample survey, faulty or abnormal data are corrected or removed from the dataset. Incomplete responses are imputed. The data collected in the sample survey are expanded using weighting coefficients to represent the entire target population. Since 2024, the weighting coefficients have been calibrated using the age and gender distribution of the target population—i.e., those who paid the game management fee during the statistical year.