Finnish men and women are increasingly finding love elsewhere. More and more foreign spouses are being registered annually from marrying locals. This is according to the Institute of Migration in Turku.
Thai women top the list of immigrant wives, with more than 500 admitted to the country in 2011, followed closely by Russians. Finnish women, on the other hand, seem to favour Turkish men, with Swedes and Brits also popular.
According to Elli Heikkilä, from the Institute, Asian women top the list as a result of travel trends. “Thailand has become a popular holiday destination for the Finns and one meets people while travelling. Meanwhile, Russia has a border with Finland over 1,000 kilometres long. That means meeting is easy,” she notes.
“A lot of Finnish women go to Britain as nurses and even the US recruits Finnish nurses. Of course, Finns meet foreign-born partners here at home, too,” Heikkilä points out.
“Children learn tolerance in a multi-cultural family environment, because for them it is completely clear that, for example, they have grandparents from Finland and from some other country,” Heikkilä points out as a benefit.
But she also acknowledges the challenges of cross-cultural relationships, some of which end in failure. “But In the end, it’s the case that people enter in a relationship of their own free will and want the best for each other.”
Good for the Finns -they have a very shallow geen pool, almost as all the Finns where cousins with each other!