Norwegians in Finland are immigrants born in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, citizens of

or speakers of the

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regio ...

living in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

History

In 1872, Hans Gutzeit, a Norwegian, founded a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish. ...

, which grew to be

Stora Enso Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and S ...

, which still operates. Gutzeit brought at least 200 sawmill workers from Norway, of which some brought their family as well. Many of them settled in Finland permanently, and established communities in the middle of Finnish rural regions. Mass migration was rare in Finland until this point. Norwegians had a significant impact in Kotka. In 1875 there were 130-140 Norwegians in Kotka, one sixth of the population. Norwegians also established communities in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

, and founded several sawmills across Finland. Norwegians had an notable presence in

Kemi Kemi (; sme, Giepma ; smn, Kiemâ; sms, Ǩeeʹmm; Swedish (historically): ''Kiemi'') is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio and the Swedish border. The distance to Oulu is to the south and to Rovani ...

. The tenth Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is a descendant of the sawmill workers. Finns had an hatred towards Norwegians, since they had a higher pay and a higher position in the society. Norwegians usually didn't pay taxes. In the 1920s and 1930s, most Norwegians acquired Finnish citizenship. In 1882, Norwegians started to be assimilated into the Finnish culture. However, Finns with Norwegian ancestry still retain their Norwegian identity.

Demographics

According to the International migrant stock: The 2017 revision, there were 2,156 Norwegian immigrants living in Finland. Most of them live in Helsinki, Oulu and Northern Finland. They make the most in

Utsjoki Utsjoki (; sme, Ohcejohka ; smn, Uccjuuhâ; sms, Uccjokk; no, Utsjok) is a municipality in Finland, the northernmost in the country. It is in Lapland and borders Norway as well as the municipality of Inari. The municipality was founded in 187 ...

(2.65%),

Larsmo Larsmo ( fi, Luoto) is a municipality of Finland, located in the Ostrobothnia region. ''Larsmo'' is also the name of one of the villages in the municipality of Larsmo. The municipality is bilingual with Swedish as the majority language and Finn ...

(0.77%) and

Enontekiö Enontekiö (; sme, Eanodat ; sv, Enontekis; smn, Iänudâh; sms, Jeänõk) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very spars ...

(0.69%). Of the Norwegian citizens, 58.8% are male. 337 Norwegian men are in a registered relationship with a Finnish woman. 45.4% of Norwegians are employed, 7.7% unemployed and 46.9% outside the labour force. Of the labour force, 85.6% are employed and 14.4% unemployed. There were 44 Norwegian entrepreneurs in 2017.

Norwegian language in Finland

The northernmost municipalities of Finland (

Inari Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

and

) want to increase teaching of the

in schools. The school curriculum however doesn't include Norwegian and it can only be learned as an optional subject. Enontekiö tries to get Norwegian to be included in the school curriculum, since the inhabitants of Enontekiö have many connections and bonds to Norway. In Ivalo ala-aste, 56 pupils learn Norwegian.

considers making Norwegian one of the official languages. Norwegian can be learned several colleges.

Finnish people of Norwegian descent

Marko Ahtisaari Marko Ahtisaari (born 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish technology entrepreneur and musician. Ahtisaari has been CEO and co-founder of two technology companies: Dopplr (acquired by Nokia in 2009) and Sync Project (acquired by Bose in 2018). ...

, technology entrepreneur and musician *

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work. Ahtisa ...

, politician *

Leif Wager Leif Wager (11 February 1922 – 23 March 2002) was a Finnish actor. He appeared in 75 films and television shows between 1940 and 2001. He starred in the film '' Kaks' tavallista Lahtista'', which was entered into the 10th Berlin International F ...

, actor *

Elisabeth Nauclér Elisabeth Nauclér (born 7 March 1952 in Eda Municipality) is a Swedish-born Finnish independent politician and jurist. Naucler was the single member of parliament for the autonomous region of Åland in the Parliament of Finland. She sat with the ma ...

, politician and jurist * , businessman

References

{{Portal bar, Finland, Norway Ethnic groups in Finland Finland–Norway relations

History

Demographics

Norwegian language in Finland

Finnish people of Norwegian descent

See also

References