Half of the 423,494 people with foreign background living in Finland at the end of 2019 lived in the municipalities that make up the Greater Helsinki region (mainly in the capital city, Vantaa, Espoo and other neighbouring towns). According to the latest figures from Statistics Finland, this area of Uusimaa is home to 209,108 people of foreign origin.
Among the largest groups with foreign background, there are two groups which stand out in this area: 79% of the people with Somali background and 70% of those with Indian background have concentrated in Greater Helsinki.
This high foreign presence is very noticeable for example in the number of births.
The share of under school-age children (aged 0 to 6) with foreign background living in Finland was 11% at the end of 2019. But the percentage soars in the metropolitan area: in Greater Helsinki, one in four (25%) children under the age of 7 are already of foreign background, Statistics Finland says.
Närpiö and Vantaa
Examined by municipality, the share of persons with foreign background among under school-age children was highest in Mainland Finland in Närpiö (in the province of Western Finland), 31%, and in Vantaa (Uusimaa), 30%.
Examined by region, one in five under school-age children were of foreign background in Åland and Uusimaa. The share of persons with foreign background among under school-age children was lowest in Central and South Ostrobothnia (around 3%).
Source: Statistics Finland.
Syria and the Philippines
At the end of 2019, clearly the largest group of people with foreign background is still those whose background country is the former Soviet Union or Russia. The second largest group is equally clearly those of Estonian origin. People with Iraqi background came third.
Over the past ten years, those with German and British background have dropped from the list of 15 largest groups. People of Syrian and Philippine background have taken their place.
Source: Statistics Finland.
Average foreigner is 33.8 years old
The average age of the population with foreign background living in Finland was 33.8 years at the end of 2019.
The average age of persons with foreign background in the first generation, that is, those born abroad, was 38.4 years and that of persons with foreign background in the second generation born in Finland was 11.1 years.
At the end of 2019, there were 71,773 persons with foreign background in the second generation, that is, every sixth person with foreign background was born in Finland.
The average age of the population with Finnish background stood at 43.9 years at the end of 2019.
