The African diaspora in Finland () refers to the residents of Finland of full or partial African ancestry, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa. , there were 54,046 people born in Africa living in Finland. Similarly, the number of people with African background (Africans in Finland; ) was 75,953.
The distinct adjacent term Afro-Finns (), also referred to as Black Finns (), can be used for Finns whose lineages are fully or partly in the populations of Sub-Saharan Africa ("Black Africa"). Afro-Finns have lived in Finland since the 19th century. In 2009, according to Yle, there were an estimated 20,000 Afro-Finns in Finland, and according to Statistics Finland, the total number of people in Finland with a close Sub-Saharan African background was 62,759 in 2024.
History
Finns reacted to the first Sub-Saharan Africans in Finland with curiosity and amazement. In the 19th century, some Africans from the Americas worked as servants for wealthy Russians in the Grand Duchy of Finland. The first known African to receive Finnish citizenship was Rosa Lemberg who came to Finland from Ovamboland in 1888 and was granted citizenship in 1899.
Between the 1900s and the 1970s, the few Africans in Finland were mostly students (e.g., from Nigeria and Ethiopia), political exiles from South Africa or people married to Finns. In World War II (1939–1945), there were some Afro-Finnish soldiers, including Private 1st Class , who served as a ski patrol leader on the Karelian Isthmus and was killed in the Winter War, and Corporal Holger Sonntag, who was of African-American and German descent and served as a driver in both the Winter War and the Continuation War.
In 1990, during the Somali Civil War, the first Somali refugees arrived in Finland. After that, due to their high fertility rate, along with the significant number of Somali family reunifications, quota refugees and asylum seekers, they rapidly became the largest African group in Finland. During the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Finland, most of the Sierra Leone national under-17 football team's players defected to Finland due to the poor conditions in their country, following a civil war that had ended a year earlier.
In the 21st century, most people of African ancestry have come to Finland from Africa, but many have also arrived from the United States, Latin America and other European countries. In particular, Americans and British people of African descent have moved to Finland, mostly through marriage.
Demographics
As of 31 December 2024, according to Statistics Finland, the total number of people in Finland with a close African background is 75,953, which is 1.4% of the population of Finland. 42,118 (55.45%) of them are men, while 33,835 (44.55%) are women. 62,759 (82.6%) of them are from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Countries of origin + Origins of people with a close African background Country Population () Population () Total 1,720 75,953 49 26,722 89 7,559 6 5,268 395 4,952 108 4,193 67 3,280 71 3,221 4 2,647 195 2,367 11 2,297 1 1,855 210 1,759 23 1,600 145 1,476 3 726 54 718 56 699 2 564 7 560 27 418 19 343 10 312 7 237 20 214 3 211 12 208 6 203 4 199 17 186 66 170 3 141 5 71 12 56 1 45 3 43 0 40 0 40 2 37 0 37 1 36 0 31 0 30 0 29 0 28 27 0 25 2 20 0 14 0 14 1 10 2 8 1 7 0 0 0 0
Countries with a significant African diaspora The following countries outside Africa have a majority population of Afro-descendants (90% or more of the country's total population) and, as of 31 December 2024, a total of 147 expatriates or close descendants in Finland: The Bahamas – 7 Barbados – 13 Haiti – 15 Jamaica – 111 Saint Kitts and Nevis – 1
African languages + Speakers of languages of African origin Language Speakers () Total 36,150 Somali 22,794 Swahili 2,560 Amharic 1,662 Tigrinya 1,662 Kinyarwanda 1,226 Yoruba 1,044 Igbo 938 Lingala 929 Twi 670 Akan 487 Wolof 336 Kikuyu 282 Hausa 223 Fula 174 Oromo 174 Kongo 156 Luganda 137 Afrikaans 119 Ewe 118 Shona 71 Chewa 69 Kirundi 67 Afar 52 Luba-Katanga 52 Ndonga 49 Bambara 17 Zulu 16 Malagasy 11 Tswana 10 Sango 9 Northern Ndebele 8 Kwanyama 5 Kanuri 4 Southern Sotho 4 Swazi 4 Herero 3 Southern Ndebele 3 Xhosa 3 Venda 2
Distribution Municipalities + Ten largest populations of people with a close African background by municipality No. Municipality Population () Percent of themunicipality's population1.Helsinki 24,425 3.7%2.Espoo 8,811 2.9%3.Vantaa 8,682 3.6%4.Turku 3,719 1.9%5.Tampere 2,829 1.1%6.Oulu 1,841 0.9%7.Vaasa 1,621 2.4%8.Jyväskylä 1,128 0.8%9.Lahti 815 0.7%10.Kuopio 744 0.6%
On 31 December 2020, 13.4% of the total population of Itäkeskus, a quarter of Helsinki, had an African background, which was the highest percentage of all subdivisions of Helsinki.
Regions On 31 December 2022, the region with the most people with a close African background was Uusimaa with 45,025 people (2.6% of the region's total population), which is 69.3% of their total population in Finland.
+ Populations of people with a close African background by region Region Population () Percent of theregion's population Åland 135 0.4% Central Finland 1,210 0.4% Central Ostrobothnia 381 0.6% Kainuu 332 0.5% Kanta-Häme 894 0.5% Kymenlaakso 795 0.5% Lapland 418 0.2% North Karelia 442 0.3% North Ostrobothnia 2,133 0.5% North Savo 837 0.3% Ostrobothnia 2,326 1.3% Päijät-Häme 886 0.4% Pirkanmaa 3,266 0.6% Satakunta 448 0.2% South Karelia 394 0.3% South Ostrobothnia 265 0.1% South Savo 276 0.2% Southwest Finland 4,544 0.9% Uusimaa 45,025 2.6%
Citizenships On 31 December 2023, there were 23,672 people who had dual citizenship of Finland and an African country.
Citizens of African countries who received Finnish citizenship by year:
1990 – 70 1991 – 101 1992 – 104 1993 – 67 1994 – 56 1995 – 81 1996 – 120 1997 – 180 1998 – 788 1999 – 1,365 2000 – 522 2001 – 406 2002 – 419 2003 – 403 2004 – 426 2005 – 605 2006 – 658 2007 – 671 2008 – 891 2009 – 466 2010 – 368 2011 – 400 2012 – 1,559 2013 – 1,923 2014 – 1,750 2015 – 1,946 2016 – 2,137 2017 – 2,448 2018 – 1,904 2019 – 1,499 2020 – 1,250 2021 – 997 2022 – 1,393 2023 – 2,010
People born in Africa who received Finnish citizenship by year:
1990 – 37 1991 – 87 1992 – 86 1993 – 42 1994 – 58 1995 – 78 1996 – 117 1997 – 175 1998 – 559 1999 – 829 2000 – 332 2001 – 275 2002 – 306 2003 – 290 2004 – 329 2005 – 387 2006 – 397 2007 – 426 2008 – 627 2009 – 329 2010 – 279 2011 – 297 2012 – 1,043 2013 – 1,344 2014 – 1,350 2015 – 1,447 2016 – 1,590 2017 – 1,844 2018 – 1,480 2019 – 1,231 2020 – 972 2021 – 764 2022 – 1,059 2023 – 1,449
Asylum seekers 1990–2013 From 1990 to 2013, a total of 14,481 African citizens applied for asylum in Finland, which was 22.4% out of the total of 64,536 asylum seekers. African asylum seekers by country of citizenship:
Somalia – 7,576 Nigeria – 1,210 Algeria – 723 Angola – 577 Democratic Republic of the Congo – 568 Ghana – 477 Ethiopia – 395 Cameroon – 313 Morocco – 306 Zaire – 305 The Gambia – 298 Libya – 206 Egypt – 124 Guinea – 115 Sierra Leone – 112 Liberia – 106 Sudan – 106 Rwanda – 105 Tunisia – 104 Kenya – 102 Senegal – 77 Ivory Coast – 69 Eritrea – 61 Togo – 52 Republic of the Congo – 45 Mali – 43 Uganda – 38 Niger – 34 Congo – 33 Burundi – 29 Tanzania – 27 Mauritania – 23 Zimbabwe – 18 Burkina Faso – 17 South Africa – 11 Guinea-Bissau – 10 Benin – 9 Chad – 8 Zambia – 8 Equatorial Guinea – 7 Malawi – 5 Central African Republic – 4 Djibouti – 3 Gabon – 3 Kongon demokraattinen kansantasavalta – 3 Lesotho – 3 Namibia – 3 South Sudan – 3 Botswana – 2 Eswatini – 2 Madagascar – 1 Mauritius – 1 Mozambique – 1
There were not asylum seekers from Cape Verde, the Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe or Seychelles.
2015–2020 From January 2015 to August 2020, there were a total of 7,935 African citizens who applied for asylum in Finland; 14.6% out of the total of 54,520 asylum seekers. African asylum seekers by country of citizenship:
Somalia – 3,736 Eritrea – 861 Nigeria – 718 Morocco – 342 Cameroon – 338 Algeria – 237 The Gambia – 235 Ethiopia – 191 Democratic Republic of the Congo – 156 Angola – 124 Ghana – 119 Egypt – 104 Libya – 92 Sudan – 88 Tunisia – 76 Rwanda – 66 Guinea – 61 Senegal – 48 Ivory Coast – 37 Uganda – 37 Kenya – 32 Mali – 32 Sierra Leone – 28 Zimbabwe – 19 Republic of the Congo – 15 Togo – 15 Niger – 13 Tanzania – 13 Burkina Faso – 12 Burundi – 12 Guinea-Bissau – 12 Liberia – 12 South Sudan – 10 Central African Republic – 9 South Africa – 8 Zambia – 6 Mauritania – 4 Namibia – 4 Comoros – 3 Gabon – 3 Chad – 2 Benin – 1 Cape Verde – 1 Equatorial Guinea – 1 Eswatini – 1 Mozambique – 1
There were not asylum seekers from Botswana, Djibouti, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe or Seychelles.
Adoptions From 1987 to 2023, a total of 984 people were adopted from Africa to Finland. 907 (92.2%) of them were from the countries of South Africa (571, 58.0%), Ethiopia (287, 29.2%) and Kenya (49, 5.0%), and the rest, 77 people (7.8%), were from other African countries.
Adoptees from Africa by year:
1987 – 11 1988 – 19 1989 – 5 1990 – 9 1991 – 12 1992 – 12 1993 – 16 1994 – 19 1995 – 14 1996 – 11 1997 – 13 1998 – 15 1999 – 14 2000 – 22 2001 – 11 2002 – 28 2003 – 28 2004 – 30 2005 – 35 2006 – 34 2007 – 44 2008 – 48 2009 – 66 2010 – 53 2011 – 71 2012 – 48 2013 – 43 2014 – 47 2015 – 41 2016 – 16 2017 – 30 2018 – 20 2019 – 26 2020 – 8 2021 – 27 2022 – 18 2023 – 20
Marriages and cohabitation On 31 December 2023, there were 5,097 Finnish citizens who were either married to or registered as cohabiting with citizens of African countries. 3,041 (59.7%) of the Finnish citizens were women and 2,056 (40.3%) were men; for both sexes the largest groups of partners were Somalian, Moroccan and Nigerian citizens. The next largest groups for Finnish women were Gambian and Ghanaian citizens, and for Finnish men Ethiopian and Kenyan citizens. On the same date, there were 4,989 African-born people who were either married to or registered as cohabiting with people born in Finland; 3,810 (76.4%) of the people born in Finland were women, while 1,179 (23.6%) were men.
Employment Statistics Finland's employment statistics from 2000 to 2021 are available for the citizens of the following 23 African countries: Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
+ Employment rates of the citizens of some African countries(and Finland for comparison) Nationality Labour force () Employed Unemployed Employed (%) 310 214 96 69.0% 79 50 29 63.3% 611 511 100 83.6% 715 425 290 59.4% 515 386 129 75.0% 457 269 188 58.9% 490 388 102 79.2% 461 357 104 77.4% 916 782 134 85.4% 599 524 75 87.5% 38 18 20 47.4% 721 497 224 68.9% 39 33 6 84.6% 1,478 1,253 225 84.8% 93 65 28 69.9% 92 62 30 67.4% 2,002 1,007 995 50.3% 189 169 20 89.4% 260 150 110 57.7% 217 169 48 77.9% 303 203 100 67.0% 123 99 24 80.5% 82 67 15 81.7% 2,492,344 2,251,076 241,268 90.3%
Afro-Finns Identity