Afghans in Finland

Finnish Afghans

Ethnic group

Afghans in Finland

Afghans in Finland / Finnish Afghans
Afganistanilaiset Suomessa /
Suomen afganistanilaiset

Total population
10,936 born in Afghanistan;
9,237 Afghan citizens (2024)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Helsinki, Tampere and Turku regions
& Jyväskylä
Languages
Finnish * Languages of Afghanistan
Religion
Islam, Christianity[2]
Related ethnic groups
Afghans in the Netherlands, Afghans in Sweden, Afghans in Russia

Afghans in Finland or Finnish Afghans are people who have a background from Afghanistan and who live in Finland. People can be born in Afghanistan, have Afghan ancestors and/or be citizens of Afghanistan. As of 2024[update], there were 10,936 persons born in Afghanistan living in Finland. Similarly, the number of people with Afghan citizenship was 9,237.[1]

## Migration

[edit]

In late 2015, about half of all the asylum seekers in Finland were Afghans, of which most have arrived through Sweden to Tornio.[3] A large portion of Afghans in Finland are ethnic Hazaras. In 2018, Migri temporarily froze all Afghani applications. Deportations of Afghani asylum seekers has drawn criticism in Finland and other European countries.[4] In 2018, 62% of Afghans asylum seekers received an asylum in Finland.[5]

On 9 July 2021, Finland halted deportations to Afghanistan after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.[6] In August 2021, in the aftermath of the 2021 Taliban offensive, Finland evacuated a total of 330 people from Afghanistan to Finland during a ten-day operation. 250 of them were Finnish citizens, people with residence permits in Finland, people who had worked at the Finnish Embassy in Kabul and their family members. 80 of them were Finland's quota evacuees consisting of Afghan workers for the European Union and NATO and their family members.[7] A day after the operation, the total number of evacuees increased to 413 when 83 Finnish Embassy's security guards and their family members were evacuated to Finland with the help of the United States.[8]

## Demographics

[edit]

Historical populationYear| Pop.| ±% p.a.

|
|

1990| 4| —
1995| 36| +55.18%
2000| 338| +56.50%
2005| 1,559| +35.76%
2010| 2,613| +10.88%
2015| 4,280| +10.37%
2020| 7,807| +12.77%
2024| 10,936| +8.79%
Born in Afghanistan. Source: Statistics Finland

People born in Afghanistan and living in Finland, according to Statistics Finland.

Country of birth Afghanistan by municipality (2024)[1] Municipality | Population

|

Whole country | 10,936
Helsinki | 2,350
Espoo | 1,566
Vantaa | 1,430
Tampere | 1,379
Turku | 580
Jyväskylä | 383
Hämeenlinna | 207
Lahti | 201
Oulu | 199
Vaasa | 172
Kerava | 153
Järvenpää | 129
Pori | 120
Hyvinkää | 106
Mikkeli | 91
Rovaniemi | 91
Kirkkonummi | 85
Kuopio | 82
Jakobstad | 78
Kotka | 67
Salo | 60
Tuusula | 55
Nokia | 52
Ylöjärvi | 52
Iisalmi | 48
Raisio | 48
Lohja | 46
Pirkkala | 44
Joensuu | 43
Kajaani | 42
Sipoo | 38
Kaarina | 37
Uusikaupunki | 36
Kouvola | 35
Seinäjoki | 35
Pieksämäki | 33
Porvoo | 33
Kangasala | 30
Nurmijärvi | 29
Äänekoski | 29
Lappeenranta | 28
Raahe | 28
Savonlinna | 26
Kauniainen | 25
Kokkola | 25
Mäntsälä | 25
Rauma | 24
Jämsä | 22
Kemi | 22
Karkkila | 19
Tornio | 19
Loimaa | 17
Sotkamo | 16
Heinola | 15
Lempäälä | 13
Valkeakoski | 13
Lieto | 12
Riihimäki | 12
Pudasjärvi | 11
Huittinen | 10
Kristinestad | 10
Korsholm | 10

People with Afghan citizenship living in Finland according to Statistics Finland.

Citizens of Afghanistan by municipality (2024)[1] Municipality | Population

|

Whole country | 9,237
Helsinki | 1,727
Espoo | 1,351
Vantaa | 1,169
Tampere | 1,082
Turku | 443
Jyväskylä | 374
Lahti | 217
Oulu | 194
Hämeenlinna | 170
Vaasa | 165
Kerava | 154
Mikkeli | 126
Järvenpää | 121
Pori | 120
Jakobstad | 112
Kuopio | 89
Kotka | 75
Rovaniemi | 75
Iisalmi | 62
Kirkkonummi | 62
Kajaani | 53
Salo | 53
Hyvinkää | 52
Pirkkala | 45
Sipoo | 44
Joensuu | 43
Kouvola | 42
Tuusula | 41
Kauniainen | 40
Lohja | 35
Uusikaupunki | 32
Karkkila | 31
Nokia | 31
Kokkola | 30
Raisio | 30
Mäntsälä | 29
Pieksämäki | 29
Porvoo | 28
Äänekoski | 27
Jämsä | 26
Raahe | 26
Rauma | 26
Nurmijärvi | 25
Loimaa | 23
Savonlinna | 23
Heinola | 21
Kangasala | 19
Lappeenranta | 19
Tornio | 18
Kaarina | 17
Korsholm | 17
Seinäjoki | 17
Kemi | 16
Pudasjärvi | 15
Sotkamo | 15
Hollola | 14
Hirvensalmi | 11
Kristinestad | 11
Orimattila | 11
Riihimäki | 11
Ylöjärvi | 11
Lieto | 10

## Organizations

[edit]

* Association of Finnish Afghan Associations.[9]

## Notable people

[edit]

See also the categories Finnish people of Afghan descent, Afghan emigrants to Finland, and Afghan expatriates in Finland

* Fareed Sadat, footballer
* Mosawer Ahadi, footballer
* Moshtagh Yaghoubi, footballer
* Nasima Razmyar, politician

## See also

[edit]

* Afghan diaspora
* Immigration to Finland
* Anti-Afghan sentiment

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Number of foreign-language speakers exceeded 600,000 during 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 4 April 2025. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
2. ^ "Hundreds of asylum seekers in Finland converting from Islam to Christianity". 23 October 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
3. ^ UUTISET, MTV (11 November 2015). "Joka toinen turvapaikkaa Suomesta hakeva on afgaani – mikä saa afganistanilaiset pakenemaan?". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
4. ^ Suomi, Uusi. "Migri jäädytti afganistanilaisten turvapaikkahakemukset – "Tällä hetkellä emme tee päätöksiä"". Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
5. ^ Saarela, Petri (6 August 2018). "62 prosenttia afganistanilaisista hakijoista on saanut tänä vuonna turvapaikan Suomesta". Kansalainen (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
6. ^ Halonen, Antti (12 July 2021). "Suomi keskeyttänyt palautukset Afganistaniin – mahdollinen lopputulos: Kaikki saavat jäädä maahan". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 September 2021.
7. ^ Toivonen, Terhi; Stenroos, Maria; Koivisto, Matti (27 August 2021). "Suomi onnistui evakuoimaan Afganistanista kaikkiaan 330 henkilöä, puolustusministeri Kaikkosen mukaan terrori-iskut eivät vaikuttaneet lopettamisaikatauluun" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
8. ^ Osipova, Elsa; Heima, Timo-Pekka; Näveri, Anna (28 August 2021). "Suomi sai evakuoitua Kabulista turvamiehiä perheineen USA:n lennolla – Haavisto Yhdysvaltojen avusta: "Uskon, että tämä oli vastapalvelus"" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
9. ^ "Suomen Afganistanilaisten yhdistysten liitto ry - Moniheli ry". Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.

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See also|

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* v
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Afghan diaspora

Asia|

| Central|

* Tajikistan
* Turkmenistan

|

South|

* India
* Baloch
* Pashtun
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* Tajiks
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West|

* Iran
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* Baloch

* Afghanistan portal

Europe|

* Finland
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Americas|

| North|

* Canada (Pashtun)
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* Baloch
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|

South|

* Brazil

Oceania|

* Australia
* Baloch
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* New Zealand

See also|

* Pashtun diaspora
* Hazara diaspora

* v
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* e

Pashtun diaspora

Pakistan|

* Kashmir
* Punjab
* Sindh

India|

* Bihar
* Gujarat
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* Punjab
* Sorgar
* Tamil Nadu
* Uttar Pradesh
* Putliwale
* Rohilla

Elsewhere|

* Australia
* Sri Lanka
* United Kingdom
* United States

See also|

* Afghan diaspora
* Overseas Pakistani
* Pashtun colonization of northern Afghanistan

Portals:

* Afghanistan
* Finland

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