FINLAND - End of Integration Model?

A quarter of the workforce—mostly foreign nationals—are employed in the greenhouses, earning €1,700-2,000 a month. The local authorities estimate 22% of the population were born abroad, making Närpes one of Finland’s most multicultural towns.

Last winter, the local language center was fully booked. Around 30 women from various Asian countries, as well as Belarus and Ukraine, had come to join their husbands and were taking an integration course for foreign workers—Finnish or Swedish language classes were on offer, plus a hundred hours on Finnish society and culture.

‘I’ve worked in the greenhouses. Now I want a job in tourism so I can build a future for my kids. I’m not planning on leaving,’ said Xuan Tran, from Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. Her children’s school is a wooden building surrounded by birch trees. Staffan Holmberg, its headmaster since 1988, has had pupils from many different countries: Bosnia, Vietnam, Syria, Ukraine, Belarus.

-modediplo.com, July 2025

Commentary: The foreign-born populations in most countries have caused additional (especially political) burdens for governments. Thus, right-leaning (even extreme right-wing) parties are being empowered. There are an estimated 300+ million international migrants globally, representing approximately 3.7% of the world’s population.

According to 2023 data from the OECD, Luxembourg leads with 51.2% foreign-born residents, followed by Switzerland at 31.2%, Australia at 29.5%, Austria 22.1%, Canada 22%, this being equivalent to Finland (USA is 14.5%).

While people always traveled from one place to another, modern technology, laws, and circumstances—such as ubiquitous communication and transportation options—have helped increase the number of foreign-born residents in many of the most attractive countries.

Finland, based on various sources, has been ranked the happiest country in the world for many years. When asked, what is the reason for immigrants coming, in most cases it is a significant improvement of their economic prospects. The other reason, mostly hidden, is the urgent need for “cheap labor” in rich countries. That explains why in airports, particularly in Europe, janitorial work is almost entirely done by non-Europeans.

The good news is that the Church is growing.

In recent communications with family members in Germany, we received a picture where eight baptismal candidates were presented in a small evangelical church—all foreign-born.

Here we are reminded, not only of the return of the Jews to their land, but also an increasing number of internationals being added to His Church. What happened in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Church, is now evident in the final days of the Church. “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).