Immigration and tourism from Russia boost economy and population of Eastern Finland

print this

By Leena Härkönen
     
      The proximity of the Russian border is having an increasing impact on life in the eastern and southeastern parts of Finland. It is visible and audible in many ways in the everyday life of border communities, and is gradually also being felt in statistics.
      Although the number of Russian residents is still small, about two percent at the most, the trend can already be felt in municipal net migration figures.
      Perttu Vartiainen, the Rector of the University of Joensuu, and Professor of Social Geography, has done research on migration trends. He predicts that in areas which have been losing net population, the relative impact of the Russians will be strong in the coming years.
      "When net emigration and mortality are high, immigration is the only positive counterforce. The proportion of Finns will decline, and that of people linked with the Russian language or culture in one way or another will increase."
     
Two thirds of immigrants living in Finland are from Russia or the former Soviet Union, and 90% of all immigrants living in Eastern Finland are Russians.
      About 4,000 Russian citizens live in South and North Karelia, in addition to many others who speak Russian as their mother tongue.
      However, the "Russians" are by no means a uniform group of people. Many of those who speak Russian are not Russian citizens.
      "If we speak of those moving to Finland from the area of the former Soviet Union, the group will include Estonians citizens, some of whom are Russians and Ingrian Finns", Vartiainen points out.
     
The Russian influence is most noticeable in communities with a border crossing, such as Lappeenranta, Imatra, and Tohmajärvi, which got its own border crossing recently thanks to a merger with neighbouring Värtsilä.
      "On the street the number of Russians appears much bigger than their actual proportion of the local residents", Vartiainen says.
      In addition to permanent residents, tourists, and cross-border shoppers, there are people who are in the area on a semi-permanent basis. Some are friends and relatives of Russians actually living in Finland, and they are not registered anywhere.
      Many of them hold long-term visas, and they visit Finland often. It is estimated that these frequent travellers constitute 43% of all trips to Finland by Russian citizens.
      Seasonal workers appear in small communities during the time of the strawberry harvest, and Russian students study at the universities of Lappeenranta and Joensuu.
     
Less attention has been paid to Russian entrepreneurs who have a second home in Finland. These range from kiosk owners to big businessmen.
      Vartiainen notes that many of them have wanted to have a place to stay in a safe environment.
      A fresh study indicates that Russian immigrants are more successful than others in finding work. In a few years they become net taxpayers, which is a boon especially to small municipalities.
      According to Professor Vartiainen, many see Finland as a bridgehead of sorts.
      "It is close to Russia and their families, but it is also in the West", he says.
     
Problems arise as those who do not speak Finnish become isolated in their own groups. Marriages do not always go well, when a Finnish bachelor brings in a wife from east of the border. There have even been criminal convictions for marriages of convenience whose only purpose was to secure the foreign partner a residence permit.
      Vartiainen was part of a working group examining the future of Eastern Finland. The group recently published a proposal for a development programme. One of the ideas put forward was to turn Eastern Finland, which is suffering from a drain of population, into a pilot area for immigration, with a focus on Russia.
      "People in Eastern Finland are starting to believe that instead of just problems and threats, the border offers more economic opportunities than before", Vartiainen says.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.3.2005

More on this subject:
 Shopping in two languages in Tohmajärvi
 PERSPECTIVE: The eye reveals what statistics keep hidden

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russian immigrants ease problem of net population loss in Eastern Finland (7.3.2005)

LEENA HÄRKÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
leena.harkonen@hs.fi