Finland Times

 

file photo Lehtikuva.

The authorities in 2014 granted Finnish citizenship to 8,260 foreigners permanently residing in Finland.

 

The number is 670 less than that of the previous year, said Statistics Finland in a press release on Wednesday.

 

Ninety-six per cent of those receiving Finnish citizenship retained their former citizenships. Of them 4,462 were women and 3,798 men, 2,216 were aged under 15 and 191 over 65.

 

Last year, Finnish citizenship was granted to 7,336 citizens of countries outside the European Union, which is 89 per cent of all Finnish citizenships granted. 

 

The percentage is at the same level as in the previous year, because the decrease in the number of citizenships granted was almost entirely made up of citizens not belonging to the European Union. In all, 924 of them were from countries belonging to the European Union, which is just a few less than one year previously. 

 

In recent years, around every fifth of those having been granted Finnish citizenship were born in Finland and the rest abroad.

 

In 2014, Finnish citizenship was granted most to citizens of Russia, numbering 2,317. This was good 200 more than in the year before. 

 

Somali citizens were the second largest group of recipients of Finnish citizenship, numbering 834. Almost as many Somalis received Finnish citizenship in the year before. 

 

In all, 405 citizens of Iraq living in Finland were granted Finnish citizenship, which is slightly over one hundred more than in the year before. 

 

Finnish citizenship was granted the fourth most often to Estonian citizens, 382, around 50 fewer than in the year before.

 

In a comparison of Nordic countries, Sweden has the top position when the number of citizenships granted is compared to the number of foreign citizens living in the country. Finland is clearly the second before Iceland, Norway and Denmark.