Statistics

In co-operation with the City of Helsinki Urban Facts and Statistics Finland, the Immigration Division produces statistics and graphs concerning major migration movements, immigrant populations and population projections.  Continual statistics production can be seen as an essential tool for development and anticipation activities. Statistical information and population projections are supplied for interest groups and city departments to be used as tools for planning future work and for forecasting change forces in operation.

Statistics on immigrants can be created on the basis of nationality, country of birth and registered native language. The registered native language is a stable statistical criterion in the sense that nationality, for most people, changes in to that of Finland, and the country of birth is not sufficient to describe the second generation immigrant population born in Finland.

Foreign language speakers in the Helsinki metropolitan area in 2010

• Half of the foreign nationals, people born abroad and foreign language speakers of the whole country live in the area.
• The number of foreign nationals in the Helsinki region was 75,596, i.e. 5.7 % of the whole population. There were 155,705 foreign nationals in the whole country, i.e. 2.9 % of the population of Finland.

Foreign language speakers in Helsinki in 2010/2011

• 11 % of the population in Helsinki have a foreign language as their mother tongue (63,475)
• In the beginning of 2011, there were 20,194 families living in Helsinki with at least one of the parents speaking a language other than Finnish or Swedish as his/her mother tongue. This amounts to 14 % of all families.
• In the age group of 7–15 years olds, 14 % of the inhabitants in Helsinki speak some other language than Finnish of Swedish as their mother tongue.
• There are at least 150 different languages spoken as mother tongue among the residents of Helsinki.
• The biggest language group are the Russian speakers.
• They are followed by the Estonian, Somali and English languages.
• 28 % of foreign language speakers in Helsinki live in the large eastern district.

Employment rate

• The unemployment rate of foreign language speakers in Helsinki was 21%, and the employment rate was 52 % in the end of 2009, respectively.
• Between January and September 2011, the number of unemployed foreign nationals was seven percent higher than in the previous year.
• Unemployment rate varies depending on the language groups.

More information about the subject is available in Finnish here
 

Sources: City of Helsinki Information Centre, Statistics Finland.

Agencies producing statistics: 
City of Helsinki Information Centre
Statistics Finland
The Finnish Immigration Service
Immigration Library
The Library of the Institute on Migration
The Library of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
The statistics page of the Ministry of the Interior

Ask about the key indicators
Annika Forsander, e-mail: Annika.forsander@hel.fi, tel. (09) 310 3836