Estonians in Finland

Last updated
Estonians in Finland
Eestlased Soomes / Soome eestlased
Virolaiset Suomessa / Suomenvirolaiset
Flag of Estonia.svg Flag of Finland.svg
Total population
50,444 Estonian citizens;
49,563 Estonian speakers (2024) [1]
Regions with significant populations
Helsinki, Turku and Tampere regions & Lahti
Languages
Estonian, Finnish
Religion
Lutheranism, Orthodoxy
Related ethnic groups
Finns, Estonians, Baltic Finns, Finnic people

Estonians in Finland or Finnish Estonians (Estonian : Eestlased Soomes; Finnish : Suomen virolaiset) are people who originate from Estonia and who live in Finland. People can be born in Estonia, have Estonian ancestry and/or be citizens of Estonia. As of 2024, there were 46,675 people born in Estonia living in Finland. Similarly, the number of people with Estonian citizenship was 50,444. The number of people who spoke Estonian as their mother tongue was 49,563. [1]

Contents

Finland has the largest community of Estonians outside of Estonia. [2]

History

Immigration from Estonia to Finland was low before 1990. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Estonia's EU membership in 2004, emigration from Estonia to Finland increased rapidly. [3]

The peak migration of Estonians was in 2012, when over 6,000 Estonians emigrated to Finland. In 2017 however the net migration from Estonia was negative, as Estonians are returning to their country. Reasons for this are the rise of salaries in Estonia and family ties. In spite of this, the Estonian population is still growing, although at a much slower rate than previously. [4]

Population by municipalities

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
19901,394—    
19958,710+44.26%
200010,176+3.16%
200515,336+8.55%
201028,493+13.19%
201548,087+11.03%
202049,551+0.60%
202449,563+0.01%
Estonian speakers. Source: Statistics Finland

People born in Estonia and living in Finland, according to Statistics Finland.

People with Estonian citizenship living in Finland according to Statistics Finland.

People with Estonian as mother tongue living in Finland according to Statistics Finland.

Notable Estonians in Finland

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Number of foreign-language speakers exceeded 600,000 during 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2025-04-04. ISSN   1797-5395 . Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  2. ↑ https://dspace.ut.ee/server/api/core/bitstreams/da063abf-8a43-4d02-908a-d0871e46158b/content [ bare URL ]
  3. ↑ "BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES : Estonian Immigrants" Identity Construction in Finland" (PDF). Helda.helsinki.fi. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "Historiallinen käänne: Virolainen työvoima on alkanut valua pois Suomesta – "Moni on ryhtynyt ajattelemaan jatkuvan reissaamisen aiheuttamia ongelmia"". 11 March 2019.
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