New Finns (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

: ''uussuomalainen'') are those people in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

’s population who have a non-ethnic Finnish background and who reside permanently in the country. A new Finn may have various backgrounds; including immigrant, immigrant-origin, refugee and/or having come to Finland for family reasons. The term is especially used to emphasize those that have a Finnish citizenship and carry Finnish passports, to those foreigners who live permanently in Finland and intend to be naturalized in Finland at some point in the future. Finland has experienced large-scale, continuous non-European immigration only within the past couple of decades. The term ''uussuomalainen'' is beginning to come into usage to commonly refer to these new, naturalized Finns, who are beginning to change and affect the national landscape of the country. The term and its usage over the more conservative "immigrant" has received mixed reactions and stirred conversation on whether new terms like this are in fact necessary. The term is currently not in mainstream use and is mostly used in political context. New Finns are affecting the national psyche of Finland because they are becoming a new, different cultural force of their own who are reshaping the national consciousness as to who a Finn can and cannot be. New Finns in general: # reside permanently in Finland # adopt the Finnish language as their own, the exception are those New Finns who live in predominantly Swedish-speaking island or coastal areas such as the

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

or majority Swedish-speaking towns like

Närpes Närpes (; fi, Närpiö ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia (region), Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. T ...

. # have attained Finnish citizenship, or wish to eventually receive Finnish citizenship # move to Finland from another country or are born in Finland to parents or a parent who is not Finnish # do not consider themselves to be ethnically Finnish but just Finnish # assign their cultural identity to their geographic location. Finland is their home, and since geographically they are in Finland, they are Finns. # have a background as an immigrant, immigrant background, refugee or someone who moved to Finland for family reasons The term ''uussuomalainen'' also describes the descendants of immigrants better than the term "immigrant", because these people have in many cases been born and raised in Finland to parents from other countries.

Famous new Finns

Many first and second generation immigrant background new Finns are well known in the cultural circles in Finland. Some well-known new-Finn writers are Toivo Flink, Neil Hardwick, Alexis Kouros, Zinaida Lindén, Harri István Mäki, Hella Wuolijoki,

Jutta Zilliacus Jutta Armelle Zilliacus (born 25 July 1925) is a Finnish-born ethnic Estonian journalist and author in the Swedish language. She was also a politician, and served as a Member of Parliament for the Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's ...

, Jason Tiilikainen, Arvi Perttu, Ranya Paasonen, Jim Thompson, Umayya Abu-Hanna and Wilson Kirwa.

Sofi Oksanen Sofi-Elina Oksanen (born 7 January 1977) is a Finnish writer and playwright. Oksanen has published six novels, of which "Purge" has gained the widest recognition. She has received several international and domestic awards for her literary work ...

has written about the plight of new-Finn women in today's Finland.

Demographics

For statistics, in 2017: *117,024 new Finns had a dual citizenship *249,452 new Finns had a foreign citizenship *372,802 new Finns were born outside of Finland *373,325 new Finns had a native language other than Finland's official languages of Finnish,

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Sámi The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Ru ...

*384,123 new Finns had both parents born abroad

References

{{reflist Demographics of Finland