![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Flag_of_Swedish-speaking_Finns.svg/640px-Flag_of_Swedish-speaking_Finns.svg.png&w=640&q=50)
Swedish-speaking population of Finland
Linguistic minority in Finland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names[Note 1]—see below; Swedish: finlandssvenskar; Finnish: suomenruotsalaiset) is a linguistic minority in Finland. They maintain a strong identity and are seen either as a separate cultural or linguistic group[6][Note 2][Note 3][Note 4] or, while not regularly,[11] as a distinct nationality.[Note 5] They speak Finland Swedish, which encompasses both a standard language and distinct dialects that are mutually intelligible with the dialects spoken in Sweden and, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavian languages.
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Total population | |
380,000[citation needed] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
![]() | 287,933 (2021)[1] |
![]() | 60,000–107,000[2] |
Languages | |
Finland Swedish, Finnish | |
Religion | |
Lutheranism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Swedes, Estonian Swedes |
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Languages_of_Finnish_municipalities_%282016%29.svg/640px-Languages_of_Finnish_municipalities_%282016%29.svg.png)
More than 17,000 Swedish-speaking Finns live in officially monolingual Finnish municipalities, and are thus not represented on the map.
According to Statistics Finland, Swedish is the mother tongue of about 260,000 people in mainland Finland and of about 26,000 people in Åland, a self-governing archipelago off the west coast of Finland, where Swedish speakers constitute a majority. Swedish-speakers comprise 5.2% of the total Finnish population[13] or about 4.9% without Åland. The proportion has been steadily diminishing since the early 19th century, when Swedish was the mother tongue of approximately 15% of the population and considered a prestige language.
According to a 2007 statistical analysis made by Fjalar Finnäs, the population of the minority group is stable,[14][15] and may even be increasing slightly in total numbers since more parents from bilingual families tend to register their children as Swedish speakers.[16] It is estimated that 70% of bilingual families—that is, ones with one parent Finnish-speaking and the other Swedish-speaking—register their children as Swedish-speaking.[17]