Estonians Account for 0.63% of Finland's Population, 3% of its Crime
Numbers just released by the Finnish Population Register data confirm that, as of the end of 2011, just over 34,000 of the country's 5.4 million inhabitants were Estonian citizens; a separate report, meawhile, indicates that they're responsible for 3 percent of its crime.
Estonians make up the largest group among the approximate 180,000 foreign nationals residing in Finland, followed by Russians (29,585) and Swedes (8,481).
Open borders and a larger Estonian expatriate community in Finland have presumably been accompanied by positive effects. But a negative note was sounded by an Estonian Justice Ministry analysis, coincidentally released today, showing that 3 percent of crimes in Finland last year were committed by Estonian citizens.
However, no data set was immediately available to indicate how many of the crimes were committed by residents as opposed to day-trippers. Nor was any data released regarding crimes perpetrated by other countries' nationals residing in Finland.
Justice Minister Kristen Michal pointed to the population increase as one reason for the relatively high crime figure.
"While in 1997, Estonian citizens committed 0.5 percent of all crimes registered in Finland, this year the percentage was three. This has on one hand been conditioned by the growth in the share of Estonians in the Finnish population." He added that the increase in the percentage of crimes by Estonians was higher than the increase in the number of Estonian expats.
Kristopher Rikken
