One in four marriages in Helsinki involve at least one foreigner
Today’s Helsingin Sanomat features one of Finland for Thought’s long time readers, and friend of mine…
Wedding bells are increasingly ringing in Helsinki for foreign citizens. In 2007, at least one of the partners was the citizen of a foreign country in 26 per cent of marriages that were sealed in that year, and both were foreigners in 12 per cent of cases.
“It is a surprisingly large number”, says Tanja Leikas-Bottà.
Leikas-Bottà herself is one of the 457 Finnish women who said “I do” to a foreign spouse in Helsinki in 2007. At the same time 384 Finnish men married foreign women.[...]According to statistics, when Finnish women marry outside of their own nationality, the spouse is usually from Western Europe, while Finnish men who marry foreigners often find wives in Southeast or East Asia, or in Russia.
[...]In 2007, 6.5 per cent of Helsinki’s population was foreign. The proportion is much higher for those of marrying age – that is, young adults.
In other cultures the pressure to marry can be greater than in Finland, where lengthy cohabitation without marriage is the norm. This can partly explain the large proportion of foreigners in the marriage statistics.
