The Finnish foreign-language speaking population is focused in Uusimaa – at the beginning of 2022, 58% of all foreign-language speakers in the country were living in the region. The foreign-language-speaking population in the area is also increasing rapidly, and the number is expected to more than double. According to forecasts, the population share of foreign-language speakers in Uusimaa will increase from the current 16% to 21% by the end of the decade.
In 2030, there are expected to be 154,700 foreign-language speakers living in Helsinki. Correspondingly, Espoo and Vantaa are expected to have 95,000 and 91,000 foreign-language speakers, respectively, in 2030. This means that the combined number of foreign-language speakers in the two cities will exceed the number of foreign-language speakers in Helsinki at the end of the decade, while Helsinki still had a higher number in 2020.
In 2023, the total foreign-language-speaking population is expected to be about 41,400 in the Helsinki region’s suburban municipalities (the KUUMA region) and about 14,000 in the Uusimaa area outside the Helsinki region.
Asian languages from areas outside the Middle East are increasing the most in Helsinki – Baltic languages are decreasing
In Helsinki, the number of people speaking Asian languages from outside the Middle East (e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese and Nepalese) is estimated to become the most prevalent group among foreign-language speakers – the number is expected to grow by 11,500 people by the end of 2030. For quite some time, speakers of Russian and other former Soviet languages (excluding the Baltic languages) have been the largest group of foreign-language speakers in Helsinki, but the group is expected to grow much more slowly than many others in the coming years. On the other hand, the number of people speaking Baltic languages is expected to decrease significantly.
At the end of the forecasting period, the largest foreign-language groups in the Uusimaa area are expected to consist of people speaking Asian languages from outside the Middle East, Middle Eastern languages and North African languages as well as Russian and other former Soviet languages (excluding the Baltics). These language groups were also the largest at the beginning of 2022.
Many foreign-language speakers are bilingual or multilingual
The foreign-language-speaking population share is expected to increase across all age groups but particularly among children and young people. At the same time, however, an increasing proportion of the foreign-language speakers are native-born Finns – even now, more than 50% of foreign-language speakers under the age of 20 have been born in the country. As such, the results must be interpreted with due consideration to the fact that most Finnish-born foreign-language speakers can speak either Finnish or Swedish, at least to the extent required to access various services.