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rfmcdonaldSearching idly on Google News Canada, I was interested to find, from the international edition of Helsingin Sanomat, Leena Härkönen's article "Immigration and tourism from Russia boost economy and population of Eastern Finland".
Karelia, long a region disputed by Finland and Russia, was given over mostly to the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Pre-war Soviet territories in Karelia were merged with some of the territories annexed from Finland, forming the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic until 1956 and afterward an autonomous republic of Karelia inside the Russian federation, the territories vacated by Finnish refugees repopulated by migrants from across the Soviet Union. Finland's remaining Karelian territories were definitively integrated into Finland, though absent their former centre at Viipuri (now Vyborg) and cut off from the rest of Karelia they were relegated to Finland's periphery. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, for a brief interval they might have been a possibility of Finland regaining the provinces annexed by the Soviet Unino but this possibility passed.
Now, in the early 21st century, Finland--and Finnish Karelia--are prosperous First World territories, firmly located inside a growing European Union. Living standards in Finnish Karelia are substantially higher than living standards in Russian Karelia; the overall gap in PPP-adjusted GDP per capita between Finland and Russia is comparable to the gaps between South Korea and China, or between the United States and Mexico. Unsurprisingly, Finland's wealth relative to Russia seems to have triggered the beginnings of a substantial wave of economically-motivated Russian emigration. It's worth keeping an eye on this trend.
The proximity of the Russian border is having an increasing impact on life in the eastern and southeastern parts of Finland. It is visible and audible in many ways in the everyday life of border communities, and is gradually also being felt in statistics.
Although the number of Russian residents is still small, about two percent at the most, the trend can already be felt in municipal net migration figures.
Perttu Vartiainen, the Rector of the University of Joensuu, and Professor of Social Geography, has done research on migration trends. He predicts that in areas which have been losing net population, the relative impact of the Russians will be strong in the coming years.
"When net emigration and mortality are high, immigration is the only positive counterforce. The proportion of Finns will decline, and that of people linked with the Russian language or culture in one way or another will increase."
Two thirds of immigrants living in Finland are from Russia or the former Soviet Union, and 90% of all immigrants living in Eastern Finland are Russians.
About 4,000 Russian citizens live in [the regions of] South [Karelia] and North Karelia, in addition to many others who speak Russian as their mother tongue.
However, the "Russians" are by no means a uniform group of people. Many of those who speak Russian are not Russian citizens.
"If we speak of those moving to Finland from the area of the former Soviet Union, the group will include Estonians citizens, some of whom are Russians and Ingrian Finns", Vartiainen points out.
Karelia, long a region disputed by Finland and Russia, was given over mostly to the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Pre-war Soviet territories in Karelia were merged with some of the territories annexed from Finland, forming the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic until 1956 and afterward an autonomous republic of Karelia inside the Russian federation, the territories vacated by Finnish refugees repopulated by migrants from across the Soviet Union. Finland's remaining Karelian territories were definitively integrated into Finland, though absent their former centre at Viipuri (now Vyborg) and cut off from the rest of Karelia they were relegated to Finland's periphery. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, for a brief interval they might have been a possibility of Finland regaining the provinces annexed by the Soviet Unino but this possibility passed.
Now, in the early 21st century, Finland--and Finnish Karelia--are prosperous First World territories, firmly located inside a growing European Union. Living standards in Finnish Karelia are substantially higher than living standards in Russian Karelia; the overall gap in PPP-adjusted GDP per capita between Finland and Russia is comparable to the gaps between South Korea and China, or between the United States and Mexico. Unsurprisingly, Finland's wealth relative to Russia seems to have triggered the beginnings of a substantial wave of economically-motivated Russian emigration. It's worth keeping an eye on this trend.
