page_title: Sweden Finns
section_title: Distribution of Sweden Finns
hierarchical_section_title: Sweden Finns / Distribution of Sweden Finns
caption_attribution_description: Karta över områden med finsktalande befolkning i procent i södra Sverige, 2005. Originalversion skapad av Mikael Parkvall 2005. Map of areas with Finnish speaking population in southern Sweden, 2005. Original version created by Mikael Parkvall 2005. Data taken from: aménagement linguistique dans le monde.
context_page_description: Sweden Finns are a Finnish-speaking national minority in Sweden consisting of Finns historically residing in Sweden as well as Finnish immigrants to Sweden. Sweden-Finns should not be confused with the Swedish-speaking Finland-Swedes in Finland, who comprise a linguistic minority in Finland.
  People with Finnish heritage comprise a relatively large share of the population of Sweden. In addition to a smaller part of Sweden Finns historically residing in Sweden, there were about 426,000 people in Sweden who were either born in Finland or had at least one parent who was born in Finland. Like the Swedish language, the Finnish language has been spoken on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia since the late middle ages. Following military campaigns in Finland by Sweden in the 13th century, Finland gradually came under Swedish rule and made Finns in Finland and Sweden were subjugates of Sweden. Already in the 1400s, a sizeable population of Stockholm spoke Finnish, and around 4% in the 1700s. Finland remained a part of Sweden until 1809 when the peace after the Finnish War handed Finland to the Russian Empire, though leaving Finnish populations on the Swedish side of the Torne river.
context_section_description: The city of Eskilstuna, Södermanland, is one of the most heavily populated Sweden Finnish cities of Sweden, due to migration from Finland, during the 1950s until the 1970s, due to Eskilstuna's large number of industries. In Eskilstuna, the Finnish-speaking minority have both a private school (the only one in the city of Eskilstuna, there is no public school or teachers in Finnish at the public schools. Only the lower level is in Finnish, upper level is in Swedish) and only one magazine in Finnish. Some of the municipal administration is also available in Finnish.
  In the Finnish mindset, the term "Sweden Finns" (ruotsinsuomalaiset) is first and foremost directed at these immigrants and their offspring, who at the end of the 20th century numbered almost 200,000 first-generation immigrants, and about 250,000 second-generation immigrants. Of these   some 250,000 are estimated to use Finnish in their daily lives, and 100,000 remain citizens of Finland. This usage isn't quite embraced in Sweden. According to the latest research by Radio Sweden (Sveriges Radio), there are almost 470,000 people who speak or understand Finnish or Meänkieli, which was about 5.2% of the population of Sweden.
  In the Swedish mindset, the term "Sweden Finns" historically denominated primarily the (previously) un-assimilated indigenous minority of ethnic Finns who ended up on the Swedish side of the border when Sweden was partitioned in 1809, after the Finnish War, and the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland was created. These Finnish-speaking Swedes are chiefly categorized as either Tornedalians originating at the Finnish–Swedish border in the far north, or Forest Finns (skogsfinnar) along the Norwegian–Swedish border in Central Sweden.
caption: Areas with Finnish-speaking population in per cent, in southern Sweden, 2005
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