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Published: 7 May 2021

Number of persons receiving Finnish citizenship fell in 2020

According to Statistics Finland, Finnish citizenship was granted in 2020 to 7,816 foreign citizens permanently resident in Finland. Altogether, 1,833 fewer Finnish citizenships were granted than in 2019. In relative terms, the number fell by 19 per cent from the previous year.

Persons having received Finnish citizenship in 1966 to 2020

Finnish citizenship was granted most to Russian citizens

In 2020, Finnish citizenship was granted by far most often to citizens of Russia, numbering 1,546 of those who were granted Finnish citizenship. This was 400 fewer than in the year before. Citizens of Iraq were the second largest group of recipients of Finnish citizenship, numbering 602. The third most Finnish citizenships were granted to Somali citizens, 541 and the fourth most to Estonian citizens, 516.

Average age of persons having received Finnish citizenship was 29

Of the persons having received Finnish citizenship, 4,179 were women and 3,637 men. The average age for women was 30.2 years and 27.7 years for men. Among the persons having been granted Finnish citizenship, 2,158 were aged under 18 and 221 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 1,242 persons, representing 16 per cent of all those who received Finnish citizenship.

Good 143,000 persons living in Finland have dual citizenship

In 2020, altogether 98 per cent of those having been granted Finnish citizenship retained their former citizenship. At the end of 2020, there were 143,256 persons permanently resident in Finland who held the citizenship of some other country in addition to Finnish citizenship. Of them, 23,615 were native-born citizens of Finland who have been granted citizenship in another country and 119,641 were foreign citizens who have been granted Finnish citizenship.

The largest dual nationality groups at the end of 2020 were citizens of Russia, 34,890, Sweden, 8,987, Somalia, 7,469, Estonia, 6,923, and Iraq, 5,923.

Source: Citizenships granted 2020, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Joonas Toivola 029 551 3355

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Tables

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• Database tables and their variables
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Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Naturalized foreigners by previous citizenship in 2020 (7.5.2021)
• Appendix figure 2. Largest dual nationality groups permanently resident in Finland by their second nationality in 2020 (7.5.2021)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, Citizenships granted 2020 (7.5.2021)

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Updated 7.5.2021