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Published: 13 September 2019

Number of persons receiving Finnish citizenship fell in 2018

According to Statistics Finland, Finnish citizenship was granted in 2018 to 9,211 foreign citizens permanently resident in Finland. Altogether, 3,008 fewer Finnish citizenships were granted than in 2017. In relative terms, the number fell by 25 per cent from the previous year.

Persons having received Finnish citizenship in 1966 to 2018

Finnish citizenship was granted most to Russian citizens

In 2018, Finnish citizenship was granted by far most often to citizens of Russia, numbering 1,766 of those who were granted Finnish citizenship. This was 992 fewer than in the year before. Somali citizens were the second largest group of recipients of Finnish citizenship, numbering 856. The third most Finnish citizenships were granted to citizens of Iraq, 621 and the fourth most to Estonian citizens, 541.

Average age of persons having received Finnish citizenship was 28

Of the persons having received Finnish citizenship, 4,876 were women and 4,335 men. The average age for women was 28.8 years and 27.7 years for men. Among the persons having been granted Finnish citizenship, 2,712 were aged under 18 and 227 were older than 65. Examined by five-year age groups, the number of persons having received citizenship was highest among those aged 30 to 34, in all 1,446 persons, representing 16 per cent of all those who received Finnish citizenship.

Nearly 126,000 persons living in Finland have dual citizenship

In 2018, altogether 97 per cent of those having been granted Finnish citizenship retained their former citizenship. At the end of 2018, there were 125,843 persons permanently resident in Finland who held the citizenship of some other country in addition to Finnish citizenship. Of them, 21,757 were native-born citizens of Finland who have been granted citizenship in another country and 104,086 were foreign citizens who have been granted Finnish citizenship.

The largest dual nationality groups at the end of 2018 were citizens of Russia, 31,697, Sweden, 8,058, Somalia, 6,416, Estonia, 5,814, and Iraq, 4,780.

Source: Population and Justice Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Joonas Toivola 029 551 3355, Timo Nikander 029 551 3250, Katariina Heikkilä 029 551 3638

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Tables

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Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Naturalized foreigners by previous citizenship in 2018 (13.9.2019)
• Appendix figure 2. Largest dual nationality groups permanently resident in Finland by their second nationality in 2018 (13.9.2019)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, Citizenships granted 2018 (13.9.2019)

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Updated 13.9.2019