The country’s leading daily Helsingin Sanomat reports on Thursday that half of Finland’s population now lives within 200 kilometres of Helsinki. A third of the country lives within just 100 kilometres of the capital city. In the last 25 years, the most population growth has taken place within just 20 kilometres of the city centre.
Researcher Timo Aro says 80 percent of internal migration is down to young adults, who are willing to live in a smaller home to have better access to work and studies. Statistics Finland forecasts that only 49 of Finland’s 313 municipalities would see growth in the next 15 years.
“Finland is not a regionally consistent, uniform and balanced whole, if we consider the variables of wellbeing and vitality,” says Aro. He says decision-makers should take these demographic changes better into account in their work, especially in their plans to merge regional administrations and social and health services. Regional differences in the population structure are becoming more acute, as urban areas swell and rural areas empty.
The paper writes that at present, if Finland were divided in equal squares of 250 x 250 metres, about 93 percent of the land area would be uninhabited. Some 90 percent of the population is located below the Kokkola-Joensuu line.
Areas with the most relative population growth in the last five years have been the Tampere commuter towns of Pirkkala and Lempälä, Liminka near Oulu, and the capital region municipalities of Espoo and Kauniainen.
Don't forget the little ones
Another paper out of Helsinki, Helsingin Uutiset features a story on the 9,000 underage asylum seekers in Finland. The Finnish branch of the charity organisation Save the Children says the reason the displaced children aren’t visible in the public discourse is because Finland does not allow the use of children’s images in the media. For this reason, the face of asylum seekers in Finland in any coverage of asylum seekers is usually an adult male.
A representative of the charity explains that most of the children also come from countries where women and children are closely sheltered. Parents wish to protect their children under all circumstances.
Save the Children runs child-friendly play areas in four asylum reception centres in Finland, where the underage residents are free to play and be kids. One reception centre serves children who have arrived in Finland unaccompanied.
The charity says the rights of children must be remembered in discussions of asylum policy, as the children cannot be held responsible for their situation.
“Children are the same the world over. They trust the adults in their life and they just want to be kids. They want to play and be a part of the community,” says one Save the Children representative.
Janitskin's day in court
The newspaper Kaleva from northwest Oulu reports that the Helsinki District Court will consider charges against the elusive owner of the online publication MV-lehti Ilja Janitskin today. Janitskin is suspected of inciting people to violence, aggravated slander and illegal fundraising, among other things.
If the court decided to remand him in custody, a Europe-wide arrest warrant will be issued. Janitskin last ran his online publication from a location in Spain, although his current whereabouts are unknown. Kaleva reports that a demonstration in support of MV-lehti is scheduled to take place today in front of the courthouse.
Black Sheep spills the beans
And the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat features a hefty series of stories on pretty boy hip hop artist Cheek on the occasion of the publication of his first tell-all book Musta Lammas (Black Sheep). Among other things, Jare Tiihonen, alias Cheek, reveals that he had a secret relationship with former Miss Finland Pia Lamberg and was convicted of assault and sentenced to pay 6,000 euros in the Imatra District Court after hitting two hecklers in the face at an ATM machine in 2011.
Jare Tiihonen took the name Cheek in 2000, when he joined the Lahti hip hop collective Fifth Element. His career began to gain speed, but in 2006 he had his first panic attack. In 2008 he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began therapy and taking medication, a development he describes in detail in his autobiography.
Cheek broke through to the mainstream audience in the autumn of 2012, when he appeared on Finland’s popular television show Väin Elämä, the Finnish version of The Best Singers format. In August 2014, Cheek sold out two shows at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium, the first solo artist in Finnish history to do so. Cheek has released nine hip hop albums. His 2013 single Timantit on ikuisia (Diamonds are Forever) was a number one hit.
