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Published: 7 May 2020

Number of persons receiving Finnish citizenship grew slightly in 2019

According to Statistics Finland, Finnish citizenship was granted in 2019 to 9,649 foreign citizens permanently resident in Finland. Altogether, 438 more Finnish citizenships were granted than in 2018. In relative terms, the number grew by 5 per cent from the previous year.

Persons having received Finnish citizenship in 1966 to 2019

Finnish citizenship was granted most to Russian citizens

In 2019, Finnish citizenship was granted by far most often to citizens of Russia, numbering 1,946 of those who were granted Finnish citizenship. This was 180 more than in the year before. Estonian citizens were the second largest group of recipients of Finnish citizenship, numbering 658. The third most Finnish citizenships were granted to citizens of Iraq, 589 and the fourth most to Somali citizens, 583.

Average age of persons having received Finnish citizenship was 29

Of the persons having received Finnish citizenship, 5,286 were women and 4,363 men. The average age for women was 29.8 years and 28.1 years for men. Among the persons having been granted Finnish citizenship, 2,622 were aged under 18 and 222 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 1,535 persons, representing 16 per cent of all those who received Finnish citizenship.

Good 135,000 persons living in Finland have dual citizenship

In 2019, altogether 98 per cent of those having been granted Finnish citizenship retained their former citizenship. At the end of 2019, there were 135,272 persons permanently resident in Finland who held the citizenship of some other country in addition to Finnish citizenship. Of them, 22,536 were native-born citizens of Finland who have been granted citizenship in another country and 112,736 were foreign citizens who have been granted Finnish citizenship.

The largest dual nationality groups at the end of 2019 were citizens of Russia, 33,455, Sweden, 8,494, Somalia, 6,977, Estonia, 6,440, and Iraq, 5,349.

Source: Population and Justice Statistics. Statistics Finland

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

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Tables

Tables in databases

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• Database tables and their variables
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Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Naturalized foreigners by previous citizenship in 2019 (7.5.2020)
• Appendix figure 2. Largest dual nationality groups permanently resident in Finland by their second nationality in 2019 (7.5.2020)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, Citizenships granted 2019 (7.5.2020)

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Updated 7.5.2020