Authors

• Taloustutkimus

Keywords

ethnic groups, immigrants, immigration, international migration, mass media, political parties, racial prejudice

Abstract

The survey, commissioned by the newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti, charted attitudes in Finland towards immigrants from different countries as well as beliefs about race.

First, the respondents were asked to state their position on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 indicated they hoped that Finland would be populated as much as possible by people of Finnish origin sharing the national values, and 0 that they hoped Finland would be populated as much as possible by people from a diversity of countries and ethnic backgrounds. Next, opinions were studied regarding how desirable or undesirable the respondents thought it was that immigrants of certain nationalities would come to Finland. The nationalities mentioned were Swedes, Germans, Russians, Estonians, US Americans, Somalis, Kosovars, Iraqis, Afghans, Syrians, Chinese, Thai and Ukrainians. The respondents were also asked to what extent they agreed with the following four statements: 'The mental abilities of black Africans are lower than those of white people living in Western countries', ' All people have equal value regardless of the colour of their skin or ethnic background', 'The white European race should be prevented from being mixed with darker races because otherwise the original population of Europe will become extinct before long ', and 'There is no such thing as 'race' since all human beings are genetically very much alike'.

One question studied whether the respondents thought the Finnish media reported more negatively or positively on the Perussuomalaiset party (the Finns Party) than on the other political parties.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, region of residence (NUTS3), major region of residence (NUTS2), city or type of municipality, education, occupational status and economic activity, household composition, number and ages of children living at home, total gross annual income of the household, and type of housing.