Finnish citizenship was granted in 2024 to 11,512 foreign citizens permanently resident in Finland, according to Statistics Finland.
Altogether, 712 fewer Finnish citizenships were granted in 2024 than in 2023, which is 6 percent lower compared to the number in the previous year.
Finnish citizenship was granted most to Russian citizens, whose share was 14 per cent.
The number of dual citizens in Finland was about 185,000 at the end of 2024.
The number of Finnish citizenship applications dropped significantly after the four-party alliance government led by the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) had tightened the immigration law.
The legislative amendments entered into force on 1 October 2024 and after that, the application numbers dropped, said the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in January 2025.
In July 2024, the parliament passed the government proposal to bring legislative amendments extending the period of residence required for Finnish citizenship to eight years from five years.
On June 16, 2023, leaders of the ruling parties announced the programme, which included tougher immigration, residence and citizenship laws.
The government tightened the immigration policy despite strong protest by different groups.
Separate demonstrations were held in Helsinki on June 27, 2023 and June 18,2023 protesting against the immigration policy taken by the government.
Several hundreds of people went on demonstrations in Helsinki in August, 2023 protesting against the move.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
