Sweden Finns
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| estimated c. 426,000 (c. 4.5 per cent of the population of Sweden) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| 46,927 | |
| Gothenburg | 20,372 |
| Eskilstuna | 12,072 |
| Västerås | 11,592 |
| Södertälje | 10,722 |
| Borås | 9,821 |
| Uppsala | 8,838 |
| Botkyrka | 8,408 |
| Huddinge | 7,729 |
| Haninge | 7,015 |
| Languages | |
| Swedish, Finnish, Meänkieli | |
| Religion | |
| Mainly Lutheranism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Finns, Swedes, Sami | |
Sweden Finns (Finnish: ruotsinsuomalaiset, Swedish: sverigefinnar) are post-World War II immigrants of Finnish origin, and their descendants, living in Sweden, some of whom still speak Finnish in addition to Swedish. Sweden-Finns should not be confused with the Swedish-speaking Finland-Swedes in Finland (and Sweden), who for at least 800 years have formed an ethnic and linguistic minority in Finland. In 2012 there were about 426,000 people in Sweden; 4.46 percent of the total population, who were either born in Finland or had at least one parent who was born in Finland. But since only the country of birth is registered in Sweden, not ethnicity or language, a considerable number of those registered as being of Finnish origin are actually of Finland-Swedish descent. According to "Finlandssvenskarnas Riksförbund i Sverige", the national organisation for Finland-Swedes living in Sweden, around 20% of all people of Finnish origin who live in Sweden are Finland-Swedes, and were thus Swedish-speakers even before emigrating to Sweden.
In the 1940s, 70,000 young Finnish children were evacuated from Finland to Sweden during the Winter War and the Continuation War. 15,000 are believed to have stayed and an unknown number to have returned as adults.
In the 1950s and 1960s the migration from Finland to Sweden was considerable, chiefly due to economic differences between the countries, as a result of Sweden not being involved in World War II and helped by the Nordic Passport Union. The emigration caused some alarm in Finland with most of the emigrants in their most productive age — although many of them returned to Finland in the following decades. Many of the Finns who have moved to Sweden have been Finland-Swedes (i.e. from the Swedish-speaking areas of Finland): In the 1950s they made up around 50% of the Finns moving to Sweden, and from the 1960s and onward around 20-30%. (Thus, the fact that a person in Sweden has a Finnish background does not automatically mean he or she has a Finnish-speaking background.)
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Wikipedia