The Swedish-speaking Finns

The Swedish-speaking Finns amount to almost 300 000 people (5,6 % of Finland’s total population), the majority  reside in the coastal areas of southern and western Finland. Around 12 000 (4 %) live in unilingual Finnish municipalities in other parts of the country. Additionally, the Åland islands are a unilingual Swedish self-governing province off the west coast of Finland, and the home of around 26 000 people.

The Swedish-speaking Finns don’t particularly differ from their Finnish-speaking compatriots when it comes to their occupations and housekeeping. The majority work either in the public sector or in the service sector. Swedish-speaking Finns are found in all vocational groups, however, the percentage of Swedish-speaking Finns is somewhat higher within trade and agriculture than the Finnish speakers.

Swedish-speaking Finns made up slightly more than 11% of Finland’s population at independence in 1917. By 2005, the figure had shrunk to around 6%. The reasons for this large decrease is the large emigration to Sweden during the second half of the twentieth century. Although many Finnish people from both language groups moved to our western neighbour, Swedish-speakers were disproportionately represented amongst the migrants; estimates vary between 30-50% of all Finns who moved to Sweden were Swedish-speaking. The ever increasing numbers of marriages of Swedish speakers to Finnish speakers has also led to the shrink in numbers; some families in ‘mixed language marriages’ brought up children as Finnish-speakers. Others registered their bilingual children as Finnish-speaking with the authorities causing a statistical decrease, if not an actual one.

Fortunately, the current trend is positive. The majority of bilingual families now choose to register their children as Swedish-speaking and to enrol them in Swedish language schools. Emigration to Sweden is no longer a significant factor. The heavy decline of Swedish-speakers that was predicted back in the 1970s has not occurred. In fact, Swedish-speakers give birth to more children than the average Finnish citizen. The actual number of Swedish-speaking Finns is now predicted to remain relatively stable; however as a percentage, is still likely to decrease slightly as the Finnish-speaking population increases faster due to return migrants and foreign immigrants overwhelmingly choosing to integrate as Finnish-speakers.

Svenskfinland

Svenskfinland is the name given to the areas of Finland that have a Swedish-speaking population. There is no real fixed definition. Regional differences are strong and most people relate to their local part of the country first and foremost, in which – leaving aside language – they may sometimes have more in common with local Finnish-speakers than Swedish-speakers living in another part of the country. Svenskfinland is often divided into three regions on mainland Finland and can sometimes also include Åland:

• Nyland (Uusimaa in Finnish) which is the southern coastal strip running from Hangö (Hanko) in the west to Strömfors (Ruotsinpyhtää) in the east. The municipality of Pyttis (Pyhtää), located even further east, often gets to tag alone as the only bilingual municipality in Kymmenedalen (Kymenlaakso). Nyland includes Finland’s captal, Helsingfors (Helsinki), which is also the municipality with the largest number of individual Swedish-speaking Finns living in it (around 30 000), despite them only comprising around 6% of Helsingfors’ total population. Ekenäs (Tammisaari), in western Nyland, is probably the largest urban town in southern Finland were you could survive easily exclusively in Swedish. Borgå (Porvoo), in eastern Nyland, is also a large town with a significant Swedish minority (today around 35%). Borgå is also the home of the Diocese of Borgå, to which all of the Finnish Lutheran Church’s Swedish-speaking parishes belong. The banner picture at the top of Svenskfinland in English is a view of the old town of Borgå featuring the diocese’s cathedral.
  
• Åboland (Turunmaa) which comprises of the south-western city of Åbo (Turku) and the archipelago to the city’s southwest. Today’s Åbo is only 6% Swedish-speaking but plays an important role in the educational life of Svenskfinland, being the site for Åbo akademi – the only multifaculty unilingual Swedish-speaking university in Finland. Åbo is Finland’s oldest city and was the capital during Swedish rule. The archipelago around Åbo is dominated by Swedish-speakers, mostly living in small villages on the various islands.
• Österbotten (Pohjanmaa, sometimes in English: Ostrobothnia), the coastal strip in western Finland between Sideby and Karleby (Kokkola). There are many areas in Österbotten where Swedish is the only official language at municipal level and many more where it is dominant. In many places in Österbotten, it’s entirely possible to live your life only in Swedish. In fact, in some places, you may well have much more difficulty gaining good service if you only speak Finnish. Vasa (Vaasa) is the largest city in Österbotten. Jakobstad (Pietarsaari), Karleby, Kristinestad (Kristiinankaupunki) and Nykarleby (Uusikaarlepyy) are amongst other regional centres. The unilingual Swedish-speaking municipality of Närpes is famous for its unusual dialects which are said by some language experts to be the closest to the middle ages form of Swedish still spoken today. It’s hard for other Swedish-speakers, from both the rest of Finland and also Sweden, to understand people from Närpes when they speak their dialect.
  
• Åland. The Åland islands are sometimes counted as part of Svenskfinland (and are indeed represented in Folktinget, the Swedish-speaking assembly of Finland). The Ålanders themselves however may not agree with being designated as Swedish-speaking Finns, considering themselves to be Ålanders alone – somewhere between a Swedish-speaking Finn and a Swede (of Sweden). Åland is self-governing, with a government and assembly in Mariehamn enjoying responsibility for most domestic affairs. Swedish is the sole official language on Åland and indeed there are restrictions on property and business ownership for non-Åland residents (to obtain Åland residency, one must live on Åland for 5 years, be a Finnish citzen and prove one’s ability in the Swedish language). Åland is probably best known to most Finns and Swedes as the place where the Finland-Sweden ferries call briefly in order to allow tax free sales onboard; Åland is outside of the EU customs area.

Famous Swedish-speaking Finns

Naturally I can’t supply a definitive list of Swedish-speaking Finns as fame is subjective. Internationally, it’s often said that Linus Torvalds, the creater of the Linux computer operating system, is the most well known. Perhaps. But that rather depends on how interested one is in technology. He is, however, almost certainly the most famous living Swedish-speaking Finn – at least internationally. Here at home, characters like Björn ‘Nalle’ Wahlroos (a charasmatic business man known for straight talking – perhaps most fitting the stereotypical image of a Swedish-speaker for some Finnish speakers), fellow businessman Mikael Lilius, film maker and politician Jörn Donner, former presidential candidate Elisabeth Rehn, tv host Peter Nyman, rally former world champ Marcus Grönholm as well as many others could probably give Torvalds a run for his money in the “living most famous” contest.

The author Tove Jansson is a perhaps better known person, or at least her most famous characters are probably widely famous; perhaps it’s fair to say the Moomintroll family are the most famous Swedish-speaking Finns! Indeed, Swedes often nickname Swedish-speaking Finns moomintrolls because our accents remind them of the voices of the characters in the more modern Japanese cartoon animation adaptation of the Moomintroll stories (the Swedish language version of the series are dubbed into Swedish in Finland and shown also on Sweden’s tv channels).

Finland’s national poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, is well known in the Swedish-speaking world (i.e. even in Sweden) for his contribution to Swedish literature. He also wrote the poem which today forms the words for Finland’s national anthem ‘Vårt land’ (‘Our Country’). The Finnish-language version of the lyrics are a later translation.

The most pivotal figure in Finland’s modern history, Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim is also of Swedish-speaking stock. Mannerheim is most famous internationally (and indeed at home) for his leadership in the Winter and Continuation Wars.

The famous composer Jean Sibelius, the explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and philosopher Georg Henrik von Wright are also more famous examples of Swedish-speakers from Finland.

Find out more

Here are some links to some Finland-Swedish sites and institutions – in English – for those that are interested:

• Svenska Finlands folkting – The Swedish-assembly of Finland
• Swedish Peoples Party – political party which enjoys the support of around 70% of Swedish-speaking voters
• Ålands lagting – The assembly of Åland
• Österbotten – information on tourism and cultural activities in the western coastal region
• Åboland archipelago – tourism information
• Åbo akademi - Finland’s main Swedish language university
• Hanken – Hanken, the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration. A Swedish-language university operating in the fields named based in Helsingfors (Helsinki) and with a campus in Vasa.
• Bridge – Immigrant Integration – Integration project from Luckan (Swedish-speaking information service) in the Helsinki region
• Borgå tourism – Tourism information on the city of Borgå (Porvoo in Finnish)

Folktinget and Wikipedia are sources for some of the information in this article.