In this study we want to find out some facts about the emigration from Finland. If you take a map of the whole world and put your finger somewhere on the map, we are sure that there are at least a few Finns living there. Let’s take the Bahamas as an example. The latest info we have says that there are at least 10 Finns living in the Bahamas.

WHY DO FINNISH PEOPLE EMIGRATE FROM FINLAND?

Sometimes it’s because of a job or marriage with a foreign person. People who emigrate these days are highly educated. People who emigrate because of marriage are mostly women. In fact, over 50 % of emigrant women move because of a marriage.

There are over a million people with Finnish roots living outside Finland. Most Finnish emigrants live in western Europe.

IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Political reasons:
In the early 20th century Russia tried to russify Finland and Finnish people. That’s one reason why Finnish people emigrated especially to America in the early 1900’s.

Unemployment:

Another reason was that there wasn’t enough farming to do in the countryside and the factories of the cities didn’t have enough jobs.