The Government wants more people to integrate in Swedish — exactly why? That remains unclear
KEHA-Keskus now records whether Finnish or Swedish was chosen as the integration language, a government adviser says. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK.
Ali Belhaj
Published 13.02.2026 at 9:28
Updated 13.02.2026 at 9:50
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government has set a target for 5–10 percent of migrants to integrate through Swedish during the 2024–2027 term.
To support this objective, it plans to direct more quota refugees to bilingual and Swedish-majority municipalities. In 2026, this would mean 69 per cent of the 500 quota refugees who are expected to arrive.
This marks a shift from last year, when only about 14 percent of them were planned to be placed in these municipalities, based on data obtained by Satakieli from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
Yet refugee quotas alone are insufficient to meet the target of 5–10 percent; therefore, attracting other categories of migrants to the Swedish route is necessary.
“The state aims to make integration in both national languages a core component of the basic service system, rather than a niche option,” says Anna Bruun, Adviser on Migration and Integration Policies at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
To this end, the government aims to step up efforts and funding to increase public knowledge of Swedish-language integration options. That includes for example adding dedicated materials on integration.fi and the provision of online training sessions for staff working in integration services, in hope of improving their understanding of the Swedish-language integration pathway.
The strategy also strengthens the quality and availability of Swedish-language education services for migrants, according to Bruun. One million euros has been allocated to expand Swedish-language integration training through liberal arts adult education programmes.
Furthermore, an amendment to the Integration Law in 2025 shifted responsibility for organising and delivering integration services from the state to local municipalities. Now they have autonomy in designing and implementing integration measures at the local level, in line with national policy priorities.
Seven active projects have been awarded funding under the programme to improve municipal-level infrastructure for Swedish-language integration. The Finnish Employment, Development and Administration Centre (KEHA-Keskus) is responsible for coordinating these initiatives.
The projects are supported by an annual state grant of €300,000 – totalling €900,000 over a three-year period from 2024 to 2026.
More complicated in practice than in theory
In theory, this is the government’s position. In practice, choosing an integration language is far from straightforward. For instance, it is common for quota refugees initially placed in rural areas to later exercise their right to relocate, typically moving to the Helsinki region or other big cities to be closer to family members or existing social ties.
“It may be more difficult to encourage refugees to choose Swedish in big cities like Helsinki. However, when they are, for instance, placed in cities where Swedish is the majority language in Ostrobothnia, they are more likely to select it,” Bruun explains, outlining the government’s hope that refugees will remain in those areas.
On the other hand, she adds that she does not exactly know which needs the programme is intended to address, nor the rationale behind its introduction by policymakers.
“What is written in the programme outlines the objective, but doesn’t highlight the background,” she says, noting that it remains unclear whether the policy was designed to address specific demographic challenges or labour market needs.
It is also not yet clear whether the 5–10 percent target refers exclusively to people with a foreign background who entered Finland between 2024 and 2027, or whether it also includes those who arrived earlier.
However, the infrastructure improvements are expected to have long-term benefits by enhancing the provision and promotion of Swedish as a language of integration. “These are new mechanisms that will remain within the system and allow for follow-up,” Bruun says.
While no data are yet available to assess the policy’s effectiveness, Bruun says authorities will begin monitoring its impact using a set of indicators: the language chosen for integration plans, the YKI language tests selected for citizenship applications, and participation levels in various language courses.
The need for “Holistic Policies”
“What is missing from the programme is a critical discussion of what integration actually means,” says Linda Bäckman, research fellow at the Migration Institute of Finland.
She signals that official integration frameworks, when assessing integration outcomes, often measure it through numbers—such as employment or language test results—without looking at social bonds, bridges, and the reduction of structural racism, which involves the whole society rather than migrant alone. According to Bäckman, these elements are currently absent from existing policy approaches.
“Migrants have been portrayed as a kind of saviour for Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority,” the researcher adds, noting that they are often framed as mere numbers in political and media discourses.
She is referring, for example, to debates in Swedish-language media after the 2015 refugee inflows on how migrant integration in Swedish might play a crucial role in strengthening and preserving the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.
Bäckman also stressed that integration plans should be individualised—based on a person’s past experiences, linguistic background, and future plans—rather than imposed through top-down decisions, emphasising the importance of respecting migrants’ agency and individual specificities.
She also pointed to a contradiction between the stated push for Swedish-integration and other recent legislative changes: receiving Kela benefits for more than three months over a two-year period can hinder the acquisition of citizenship, while three months of unemployment can trigger the cancellation of work-based residence permits.
“Citizenship is the cornerstone of integration. When it becomes harder to obtain, people may be less willing to take the risk of learning a minority language.”