Total population | |
---|---|
c. 6.2–7 million | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Finland 4.87–5.1 million |
|
United States | 636,587 |
Sweden | 156,045–712,000 (including Tornedalians) |
Canada | 136,215 |
Russia | 127,600 (with all Karelians) 34,300 (with Ingrian Finns) |
Australia | 30,359 |
Germany | 16,000 (in 2002) |
Norway | 15,000–60,000 (including Forest Finns and Kvens) |
United Kingdom | 11,228 |
Estonia | 7,659 |
France | 6,000 (in 2005) |
Spain | 5,000 (in 2001) |
Switzerland | 2,656 (in 2002) |
Netherlands | 2,087 (in 2006) |
Denmark | 2,084 (in 2002) |
Japan | 1,500 (in 2014) |
United Arab Emirates | 900 (in 2010) |
Ireland | 868 (in 2011) |
New Zealand | 573 (in 2013) |
Languages | |
Finnish | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Lutheranism; Eastern Orthodoxy, Suomenusko, Roman Catholicism |
|
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Finnic people especially Forest Finns, Ingrian Finns and Tornedalians |
|
a The total figure is merely a sum of all the referenced populations listed. b No official statistics are kept on ethnicity. However, statistics of the Finnish population according to first language and citizenship are documented and available. |
b No official statistics are kept on ethnicity. However, statistics of the Finnish population according to first language and citizenship are documented and available.
c Finnish born population resident in Sweden. This figure likely includes Finnish-born ethnic Swedes repatriated to Sweden and as such might be a misleading figure.
Finns or Finnish people (Finnish: suomalaiset, Swedish: finnar) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Finland.
Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these countries as well as those who have resettled. Also, some of these may be classified as separate ethnic groups, rather than subgroups of Finns. These include the Kvens and Forest Finns in Norway, the Tornedalians in Sweden, and the Ingrian Finns in Russia. The most notable autochthonous group is the Finnish-speaking population of Sweden, who trace their origin to Second Swedish Crusade after which Finland came under Swedish rule.
Finnish, the language spoken by most Finnic people, is closely related to other Finnic languages, e.g. Estonian and Karelian. The Finnic languages are a subgroup to the Uralic family of languages, which also includes Hungarian. These languages are markedly different from most other languages spoken in Europe, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages. Native Finns can also be divided according to dialect into subgroups sometimes called heimo (lit. tribe), although such divisions have become less important due to internal migration.