Finland's internal migration evens out and becomes more balanced

Communities surrounding large cities continue to attract new residents

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Compared with the situation in recent years, Finland's internal migration calmed down somewhat and became more balanced in 2004. According to Statistics Finland advance information, only four communities - Tampere, Espoo, Jyväskylä, and Kirkkonummi - recorded a population gain of over 500 individuals.
      During the peak years of internal migration at the turn of the 1970s, up to 20 communities recorded population gains of over 500 people per year.
      The fact that over half of the Finnish municipalities, 226 in all, recorded positive migration figures in 2004 also speaks of today's more balanced development.
      Population decline is still fastest in the cities of Helsinki and Turku, both of which continue to lose residents to neighbouring communities. Also elsewhere in the country municipalities bordering larger cities tend to draw inhabitants.
     
Timo Aro, who is preparing his doctoral thesis on Finland's internal migration, points out that the group of 50 gainers in the migration development signifies the effects of society's knowhow structures. Only nine communities of the 50 migration winners are located any distance away from universities.
      Losers in the migration race are the primary production municipalities of eastern and northern parts of the country, and, apart from Uusimaa, the fringe areas of all the provinces.
      Of medium-sized university towns, Joensuu, Kuopio, and Vaasa all exhibited negative population development last year.
      Among individual municipalities, population declined in Rauma, Raahe, Uusikaupunki, Kemi, and Imatra, whereas Kotka, Pori, and Loviisa saw a migration upswing for the first time in a long while.
     
Rector Perttu Vartiainen of the University of Joensuu, has noted that the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki is expanding towards the cities of Tampere and Lahti. Communities such as Riihimäki, Hyvinkää, and Lahti clearly benefit from their location in this respect.
      Vartiainen is particularly concerned about the spiralling downward migration trend of medium-sized cities such as Mikkeli and Kajaani.
      Last year, only the Siikalatva region of Central Finland and a few communities in the north-eastern reaches of Lapland recorded grave migration losses.
      Nowadays, communities surrounding big population centres draw in new residents as well as they did during the peak years of the 1980s.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  The unstoppable greying of Helsinki (18.1.2005)
  Population increase largest in Espoo and decline fastest in Helsinki (30.12.2004)
  Migration from Helsinki metropolitan area to surrounding communities on the increase (8.10.2003)
  Helsinki region benefits most from internal migration (31.3.2003)
  Helsinki plans for slower population growth; number of children declining faster than expected (12.11.2002)

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