Finland — from a country of emigration to a multicultural society | Multicultural Pomerania. Multicultural Baltic

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For much of its history, Finland has been primarily a country of emigration. Even in the second half of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of Finns left in search of work and better living conditions, primarily to neighboring Sweden. It was only in recent decades that the direction of migration began to reverse, and Finland gradually turned into an immigrant country. This process has especially accelerated in the 21st century. Today, migration plays an increasingly important role in Finland's economy and labour market, and in conditions of low fertility and ageing, it has also become one of the key factors in the country's demographic development.

However, rising immigration raises questions about integration, identity, the future of the Nordic welfare state and the limits of society's openness. Finland needs foreign workers and highly qualified specialists, and at the same time has tightened some of its migration policy in recent years. It places greater emphasis on employment, language skills and migrants' responsibility for the integration process, and stricter rules on international protection, family reunification and citizenship, among others. The issue of security was also of particular importance: the situation on the border with Russia made migration also come to be seen as a potential tool of political pressure.

Poles are also part of the multicultural landscape of modern Finland. They form a relatively small but steadily growing community in Finland, whose numbers have increased especially after Poland's accession to the European Union. Finnish Poland has a long history, its own organizations and institutions and actively maintains relations with Poland. Her experience allows us to look at migration also from the perspective of transnational families, functioning in a multilingual environment and the transmission of language and culture to subsequent generations.

During the next meeting of the series “Multicultural Pomerania. Multicultural Baltic” we will look at Finland as a country that has made its way from a country of emigration to an increasingly diverse immigrant society in a relatively short time. We will talk about the scale and directions of modern migration, Finnish migration and integration policy and the place of Poles in the changing society of Finland.

We will try to answer, among others, the following questions:

Rafał Raczyński, PhD — political scientist, assistant professor in the Department of International Relations of the Institute of Political Science of the University of Gdańsk, member of the Migration Research Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Pomeranian Council for Regional Migration Policy; PhD in social sciences in the field of political science with specialization in international relations, graduate of political science at the University of Gdańsk, European School at the Faculty of Management and Economics of the Gdańsk University of Technology and personnel management at the Higher School of Social Psychology, chief specialist in research at the Museum of Emigration in Gdynia. His research interests include migration issues and diaspora issues. He is the author of several dozen works in this field, published both in the country and abroad. Editor-in-chief of the journal “Polski Przegląd Migracyjny/The Polish Migration Review” and editor of the journal “European Journal of Transformation Studies”.

Meeting partner: Migration Observatory Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Gdańsk.