Sweden Finns

Sweden Finns

ruotsinsuomalaiset sverigefinnar
Flag of the Sweden Finns
Total population
estimated c. 426,000–712,000
Regions with significant populations
Stockholm	46,927[1]
Gothenburg	20,372
Eskilstuna	12,072
Västerås	11,592
Södertälje	10,722
Borås	9,821
Uppsala	8,838
Botkyrka Municipality	8,408
Huddinge Municipality	7,729
Haninge Municipality	7,015
Languages
Finnish (Sweden Finnish) and Swedish
Religion
Lutheranism
Related ethnic groups
Other Finns

Sweden Finns (Finnish: ruotsinsuomalaiset; Swedish: sverigefinnar) are a Finnish-speaking national minority in Sweden.^[2]

People with Finnish heritage comprise a relatively large share of the population of Sweden. In addition to a smaller part of Sweden Finns historically residing in Sweden, there were about 426,000 people in Sweden (4.46% of the total population in 2012) who were either born in Finland or had at least one parent who was born in Finland.^[3] In 2017 that number was 720,000.^[4] Like the Swedish language, the Finnish language has been spoken on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia since the late Middle Ages. Following military campaigns in Finland by Sweden in the 13th century, Finland gradually came under Swedish rule and Finns in Finland and Sweden became subjugates of Sweden. Already in the 1400s, a sizeable population of Stockholm spoke Finnish, and around 4% in the 1700s.^[5] Finland remained a part of Sweden until 1809 when the peace after the Finnish War handed Finland to the Russian Empire, leaving Finnish populations on the Swedish side of the Torne river.

In the 1940s, 70,000 young Finnish children were evacuated from Finland. Most of them came to Sweden during the Winter War and the Continuation War, and around 20% remained after the war. Helped by the Nordic Passport Union, Finnish immigration to Sweden was considerable during the 1950s and 1960s. In 2015, Finnish immigrants to Sweden made out 156 045 persons (or 1.58% of the Swedish population)^[6] Not all of them, however, were Finnish speakers.

The national minority of Sweden Finns usually does not include immigrated Swedish-speaking Finns, and the national minority of Sweden Finns is protected by Swedish laws that grant specific rights to speakers of the Finnish language. English somewhat lacks the distinction between Finns in Sweden (Swedish: sverigefinländare), which emphases nationality rather than linguistic or ethnic belonging and thereby includes all Finnish heritage regardless of language, and Sweden Finns (Swedish: sverigefinnar) which emphases linguistic and ethnic belonging rather than nationality and usually excludes Swedish-speaking Finns. Such distinctions are, however, blurred by the dynamics of migration, bilingualism, and national identities in the two countries. Note that speakers of Meänkieli are singled out as a separate linguistic minority by Swedish authorities.^[7]