Employment is often considered an important indicator for immigrant integration. Entering the labour market has great significance for people moving to Finland, but also for the Finnish society and, at local level, for the municipality.

A significant social change is taking place in civil society in Helsinki and neighbouring cities. Activities based on networks and peer-to-peer production are emerging due to the internet and social media, inspiring new forms of agency. This leads to changes in civil society and thereby also changes in cities and how they are planned and developed.

The number of residents speaking a foreign mother tongue has increased rapidly in Helsinki over the past few years, as has their proportion of the total population. The rise is set to continue, but the impact of the recent inflows of asylum applicants on Helsinki's foreign-language population is expected to remain limited.

Cultural participation in Helsinki is a little studied topic.

In Finland and in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, immigrants live in owner-occupied housing far less frequently than the native population. A corresponding mismatch can also be seen in many other countries, particularly with regard to immigrants who have been in the country for a short period of time.

The rates of employment and unemployment in Helsinki have seen considerable variation between 1987 and 2016, the period examined in this article. At the end of 2016, the trend in unemployment has finally taken a turn for the better after a long difficult period. However, long-term unemployment remains at a record high.

At the end of 2016, Helsinki had 635,000 inhabitants. The population has been growing rapidly, by 8,000 annually on average in 2013–2016. This means an annual population increase of 1.3 per cent.

The present issue of Helsinki Quarterly functions as an overview of essential research topics that City of Helsinki Urban Facts has dealt with during the past year. The thematic range reveals the multiplicity of aspects related to urban life, but also of the information required by the authorities to successfully develop a city.