Italians in Finland

Italian Finns (Italian: italo-finlandesi; Finnish: Suomenitalialaiset) are Finnish-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Finland during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Finland.

Italian Finns

Italo-finlandesi (Italian) Suomenitalialaiset (Finnish)
Charles Bassi
Total population
3,510[1]
Regions with significant populations
Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Turku, Tampere
Languages
Finnish · Italian and Italian dialects
Religion
Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Italians, Italian Belgians, Italian Britons, Italian French, Italian Germans, Italian Romanians, Italian Spaniards, Italian Swedes, Italian Swiss, Corfiot Italians, Genoese in Gibraltar, Italians of Crimea, Italians of Odesa

Characteristics

The number of Italians can only be measured in the number of Italian speakers, people born in Italy and their children, since Finland does not collect statistics on ethnicity.^[2]

The "Associazione degli Italiani" in Finland, founded in 1990, operates in Finland as an aggregation society for Italian-Finnish people.^[3] Furthermore, the Finland-Italy cultural society operates in Finland, founded in 1963, to increase cultural exchanges between the two cultures.^[4]

Demographics

67% of Italian Finns are male and 33% are female. 51.3% of Italian Finns are employed, 9.5% are unemployed and 39.2% are outside the labour force. There are over 200 Italian students in Finland, and over 160 Italian entrepreneurs.^[5] 761 Italian men are in a registered relationship with a Finnish woman.^[6]

In 2018:^[7]

• 1,133 Finns had a dual Italian citizenship
• 2,441 Finns had an Italian background
• 2,709 Finns had an Italian citizenship
• 2,857 Finns spoke Italian as their native language
• 2,956 Finns were born in Italy

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1980	275	—
1990	475	+72.7%
2000	958	+101.7%
2010	1,790	+86.8%
2018	2,956	+65.1%
2021	3,395	+14.9%
Source: Statistics Finland

Italians by Municipality in 2018^[8]

No.	Municipality	Italians	%
1.	Helsinki	1,078	0.17
2.	Espoo	336	0.12
3.	Vantaa	226	0.10
4.	Turku	186	0.10
5.	Tampere	163	0.07

Notable Italian Finns

See also the categories Finnish people of Italian descent and Italian expatriates in Finland

• Marco Matrone, footballer
• Matias Maccelli, ice hockey player
• Charles Bassi, architect
• Lauri Dalla Valle, former footballer
• Marco Parnela, former footballer
• Antonio Inutile, footballer
• Anna Falchi, model and actress
• Marco Casagrande, architect
• Manuela Bosco, actress
• Clara Petrozzi, violist
• Monica Sileoni, retired artistic gymnast
• Janna Hurmerinta, singer
• Maarit Hurmerinta, singer and musician
• Andreas Bernard, ice hockey goaltender
• Eugenio Giraldoni, operatic baritone
• Sara Negri, mathematical logician
• Egle Oddo, visual artist

See also

• Finland–Italy relations