HS Home 3.4.2002 - In large Finnish cities, foreigners may soon outnumber Swedish-speaking Finns

By Heidi Korva

In the majority of the largest cities in Finland there are more foreign immigrants than there are Swedish-speaking Finns.

Helsingin Sanomat compared the number of Swedish-speaking Finns against the number of immigrants in the 15 largest cities in Finland. It was discovered that only in four cities, namely Helsinki, Espoo, Turku, and Vaasa, was the percentage of the Swedish-speaking Finns greater than that of the foreigners.

The Swedish-speaking Finns' position as the largest minority group in Finland is still not threatened, however.

The 300,000 Swedish speakers constitute 5.6 % of the population of Finland, whereas the total number of foreign nationals in Finland falls a little short of 100,000 (1.9 %).

In addition, there are over 20, 000 foreign immigrants who have taken Finnish citizenship.

Over two-thirds of the foreigners

live in the 15 biggest cities of Finland. The remaining 30,000 individuals live more or less evenly distributed throughout the country.

Of the bigger cities, only Kuopio and Joensuu did not experience growth in the number of foreign nationals last year.

In 2001 every single one of the 448 cities, towns and rural communities of Finland had at least one foreign resident.

According to the population register centre a year earlier there were still two rural communities - Rautavaara in Eastern Finland and Lemu close to Turku - that were “free from foreign invasion”.

The largest concentration

of foreigners is in the capital, Helsinki. In one year the share of foreigners there has climbed from 4.7 to 5.0%.

In fact, Helsinki is the only city in Finland where the multicultural atmosphere is comparable to that of an average European city.

In all of the EU countries the average percentage of foreign population is just under five. This ratio applies to Helsinki.

In the Greater Helsinki Area, which includes neighbouring cities such as Espoo and Vantaa (both among the five biggest cities in Finland), the proportion of foreign nationals is 4.4 %.

The foreigners' 5 % portion of the population of Helsinki is still minute compared to Central European metropolises such as Paris and Berlin, with percentages of 14 and 15 respectively.

Still, even Helsinki

nowadays has got multi-cultural facets to its everyday life. The city's comprehensive schools offer teaching in 40 different languages, and in the country as a whole this figure rises to 49 languages.

According to Finnish legislation an immigrant child has the right to receive teaching in his/her own mother tongue.

The largest groups of foreign pupils taught in their own language in Helsinki come from Russia, Estonia and Somalia. Less common languages used in teaching in Helsinki's schools include Amharic, Lingala, Pilipino, Tigriña, and Wolof.

In Helsinki, roughly 3,000 of the city's 50, 000 comprehensive school pupils are immigrants.

In Vantaa one in eleven pupils of the comprehensive or upper secondary schools was born outside the Finnish borders.

The Lutheran Church

has also responded to the increase in the number of immigrants.

In the diocese of Helsinki church services are now provided in at least 24 different languages.

In addition to the Finnish- and Swedish-speaking ministers there are now also full-time priests providing services in English, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 30.3.2002