Most Finnish municipalities get migration surplus
One third of people moving from abroad are returning Finns
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A full 94 per cent of Finnish municipalities are getting more inhabitants coming from abroad than they lose to emigration.
“Immigration seems to be the key anchor of population development in the 21st century, at least in many municipalities”, says population researcher, Dr. Timo Aro.
Aho was asked by Helsingin Sanomat to analyse what impact immigration has had on individual municipalities between 2000 and 2008. He used data from Statistics Finland as his resource material.
The immigration statistics also include information about Finns who have moved abroad, and Finnish citizens who have returned to Finland after living outside of the country; the latter account for about a third of all immigration, although there is great variation from one year to another.
Of Finland’s 414 municipalities, 389 experienced net growth in the migration statistics from 2000 to 2008. There were 24 municipalities that experienced a net loss in immigration, and in one community the number of immigrants and emigrants were the same.
For many communities, immigration has been the only way to maintain overall population growth, and in some communities, like the cities of Kotka, Kajaani, Mikkeli, and Kouvola, the population declined in spite of the immigration surplus.
When the number of emigrants is subtracted from the number of immigrants, Finland had a net population gain of 73,147 people during the period studied.
The immigration surplus has grown in recent years. In 2008 it was many times greater than it was in 2000. Advance figures by Statistics Finland indicate that last year, 27,147 people moved to Finland, and 13,411 emigrated from Finland.
Among those leaving Finland, 8,986 were Finnish citizens. The figure among the arrivals was 8,199.
The Helsinki region - Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa - accounted for a third of all immigration.
The population of the three cities grew by 63,539 in 2000-2008. A third of the increase is attributable to growth in immigration.
“The main part of immigration flows targeted large cities, for understandable reasons. However, migration does not extend to the communities surrounding large cities, contrary to what is the case in migration inside the country”, Aho points out.
In his view, population gains from immigration are spread evenly throughout the country, but eventually he expects immigrants to start moving to the same areas, which will be emphasised further in the internal migration flows of cities with a migration surplus.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 9.3.2009 - TODAY |
 Most Finnish municipalities get migration surplus |
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