New Finns (
Finnish: ''uussuomalainen'') are those people in
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
’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
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
, immigrant-origin,
refugee
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
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
Ă…land
Ă…land ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...
or majority Swedish-speaking towns like
Närpes
Närpes (Finland Swedish: ; ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Närpes is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Närpes is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of ...
.
# 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
Alexis Kouros (born 1961, in Kermanshah, Iran) is an Iranian- Finnish writer, documentary-maker, director, and producer.
His first book, ''Gondwana's Children'', won the Finlandia Junior Award in 1997. His first film was the 2000 documentary, '' ...
, Zinaida Lindén, Harri István Mäki,
,
Jutta Zilliacus, Jason Tiilikainen, Arvi Perttu, Ranya Paasonen,
Jim Thompson,
Umayya Abu-Hanna and
Wilson Kirwa
Wilson Kipchumba Kirwa (born 28 December 1974 in Eldoret, Kenya) is a Finland, Finnish middle-distance Running, runner, municipal politician, writer, and entrepreneur.
As a runner, Wilson represents Lahden Ahkera. He is also a National Coalition ...
.
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 or
Sámi
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
*384,123 new Finns had both parents born abroad
References
{{reflist
Demographics of Finland