In Helsinki’s Itäkeskus and other eastern residential areas, for example, more than one fifth of the population have foreign backgrounds, and their number is increasing by about one percent every year.
For her soon-to-be checked doctoral thesis for the University of Helsinki’s Geography Department, researcher Katja Vilkama studied cities’ immigrant concentrations.
According to Vilkama, areas like Itäkeskus are entryways into Finnish society. However, once immigrants start to earn more and become familiar with Finnish society, they often leave these city areas behind.
Vilkama found the population in such areas to be very mobile, as people were continuously moving in and out. In the Helsinki region, about one in five immigrant families moves areas every year. Estonian immigrants are especially prone to move, says Vilkama.
In fact, there are more people with foreign backgrounds leaving immigrant-heavy areas compared with the number of Finns moving out. However, as both sections of the population are replaced mostly by new immigrants, the number of Finns continues to diminish in these areas.
Population Divisions Are Set to Continue
Though Finnish cities have initiated programs aimed at preventing the stratification of foreign and Finnish populations in areas with many foreigners, Vilkama sees that such development is already well underway.
Immigrants with low income levels will continue to live in areas with city-owned rental housing, while Finns continue to leave areas, which are known to have many immigrants.
Those who have recently moved to Finland tend to be happy to share a neighbourhood with people who are in a similar point in their lives.
