Immigration and tourism from Russia boost economy and population of Eastern Finland
Published:
22 March 2005 y., Tuesday
The proximity of the Russian border is having an increasing impact on life in the eastern and southeastern parts of Finland. It is visible and audible in many ways in the everyday life of border communities, and is gradually also being felt in statistics.
Although the number of Russian residents is still small, about two percent at the most, the trend can already be felt in municipal net migration figures.
Perttu Vartiainen, the Rector of the University of Joensuu, and Professor of Social Geography, has done research on migration trends. He predicts that in areas which have been losing net population, the relative impact of the Russians will be strong in the coming years.
"When net emigration and mortality are high, immigration is the only positive counterforce. The proportion of Finns will decline, and that of people linked with the Russian language or culture in one way or another will increase."
Two thirds of immigrants living in Finland are from Russia or the former Soviet Union, and 90% of all immigrants living in Eastern Finland are Russians.
About 4,000 Russian citizens live in South and North Karelia, in addition to many others who speak Russian as their mother tongue.
However, the "Russians" are by no means a uniform group of people. Many of those who speak Russian are not Russian citizens.
"If we speak of those moving to Finland from the area of the former Soviet Union, the group will include Estonians citizens, some of whom are Russians and Ingrian Finns", Vartiainen points out.
Šaltinis:
helsinginsanomat.fi
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Hundreds of New Yorkers enjoy a dip in rubbish dumpsters that have been converted into swimming pools as part of the city's summer initiative.
more »
On 19 July, a school, which had been reconstructed with the funding from Lithuania’s Special Mission in Afghanistan, was opened in the village of Suri, the Zabul Province in the South of Afghanistan.
more »
Self-employed workers and their partners will enjoy better social protection – including the right to maternity leave for the first time – under new EU legislation that enters into force today.
more »
A 45 U.S. dollar garage sale purchase turns out to be long lost Ansel Adams negatives worth 200 million dollars.
more »
A Turkish toddler survives a three-floor fall from a balcony when he lands on a stack of plastic pipes.
more »
Around 200 Magellan penguins, most of them dead, wash up on Uruguay's beaches.
more »
Europeans are calling on Member States to boost their efforts to improve road safety, according to a survey published by the European Commission today.
more »
With an increase in life expectancy in China has come an accompanying rise in dementia cases, which may leave the younger generation struggling to cope with treatment and care.
more »
These baby sea turtles should be swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, but instead they are recovering at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi.
more »
Reviving the Latin American tradition of the afternoon siesta, a hotel in Argentina brings siesta to the corporate workforce.
more »