Helsinki residents consume more alcohol on average than people in the rest of Finland, as has been evidenced in various studies. Much less is known about non-drinkers in Helsinki, although they make up 14 per cent of the city population.

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.