Poll: More than half of Finns want more immigration

Over ten percent express openly racist views

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A majority of Finns feel that Finland should take more immigrants, according to a poll commissioned by NYT - the weekly Friday supplement of Helsingin Sanomat.
      Of all respondents, 56 per cent answered "yes" to the question "should Finland take more immigrants?", while 36 per cent did not want any more immigrants in Finland.
      The most frequent explanation for a negative view was that "problems should be solved in the countries of origin", or that "Finland should primarily take care of its own citizens".
      The older the respondent, and the lower the person's income, the more negative the attitude toward immigration. Residents of the Helsinki region were more positively disposed toward immigrants than those living in other parts of the country.
     
Analysing the results, Juhani Iivari, head of research at the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) notes that in a comparison of political party affiliations of the respondents, supporters of the centre party were the most conservative, with 43 per cent saying that Finland should not take any more immigrants. At the other end, 90 per cent of those identifying themselves as supporters of the Green League wanted more immigration.
      The respondents' place of residence also had a bearing on the matter: the closer to the Helsinki region a person lives, the more open he or she is to immigration. Iivari attributes this to the fact that immigration is a more visible phenomenon in the Helsinki region, and that people are more used to it.
     
Those opposing more immigration were given a list of possible reasons for the view, and were asked if they agreed with the argument.
      Iivari divided the arguments into three different categories: rational, conservative, and racist. An example of the latter is "it is unnatural for people of such different races to live in Finland".
      The poll indicated that 28 per cent of men felt this way.
      "Fortunately, the rational argument predominates. But what is interesting are these racist arguments", Iivari says, and continues: "First, the older a respondent, the more frequent it is for an argument to be racist."
      Racist attitudes are most prevalent among farmers and pensioners. Supporters of the Greens had the fewest responses that can be considered racist.
      "Racist fears can be found among those who do not vote at all, and among supporters of the Centre Party and the Social Democrats."
      Those earning less than EUR 20,000 a year had the greatest proportion of racist attitudes. The lower the income, the stronger the negative feelings.
      Among all of the respondents, 10 to 12 per cent express racist thinking. Iivari notes that a political party winning all of their votes "could conceivably win more than ten seats in Parliament".


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Immigrants can bring considerable savings in education costs (1.3.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat