People in Finland increasingly think that racism is a significant problem in the country, according to a survey by news group Uutissuomalainen (USU).
The survey asked respondents to which degree they agree with the statement "I think racism is a significant problem in Finland".
Sixty percent said they somewhat or completely agreed. That's up from 57 percent in a poll two years ago, just after the current right-wing government took office. Five years ago, the proportion was 51 percent.
The most recent survey found 35 percent of respondents somewhat or completely disagreeing with the statement. Five percent declined to say.
Only seven percent of respondents who identified as supporters of the nationalist Finns Party (the government's second-largest party) said they completely or somewhat agreed with the statement.
Meanwhile, 49 percent supporters of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party held such opinions.
At the same time, more than 90 percent of self-described supporters of the opposition Green and Left Alliance parties agreed with the statement that racism was a significant problem in the country.
In terms of gender, 71 percent of female respondents agreed with the idea that racism was a problem, while fewer than half of male respondents did.
Researcher: Racism more topical these days
According to Tuija Saresma, a cultural studies professor at the University of Eastern Finland, the survey results reflect that people are increasingly aware about the issue of racism.
"Five years ago, racism was not as much a part of the public debate as it's been during Petteri Orpo's government," she said, according to USU.
Since its first weeks in the summer of 2023, Orpo's coalition government has endured a number of racism scandals involving Finns Party ministers or MPs.
One of the more recent incidents involved controversial remarks about immigrants made by Finns Party MP Teemu Keskisarja.
Among other things, Keskisarja — who also serves as his party's first deputy chair — called incoming migrants "low quality" and claimed the controversial "great replacement" conspiracy theory was "a fact".
After receiving four complaint reports about the MP's statements, the Helsinki Police Department announced last month that it would not look into the matter.
However, the Equality Ombudsman, Rainer Hiltunen, characterised Keskisarja's comments as racist. Meanwhile, the Finns Party's chair, Riikka Purra has defended his remarks.
At one point earlier this year, the government's ministers and party leaders attended a one-hour anti-racism training session, focused on understanding racism and its manifestations.
The USU-commissioned survey was carried out by data analysis firm Tietoykkönen between 16 and 24 September. It had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
