Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
This is Anna Järvinen – singer-songwriter, author, painter, and proud Swedish Finn.
We recently met with Anna to talk about her favourite things from the Swedish-Finnish culture, and the differences in singing in Swedish versus singing in Finnish.
Swedish Finns are one of Sweden's five official national minorities, along with the Sami, Roma, Tornedalians, and Jews. Their cultures, traditions and languages have special protection in Swedish law. Sweden Finns, in short, have Finnish roots but live in Sweden – a people with two cultures and two languages. It’s up to individuals to define themselves as part of this
minority. An estimated 400,000 to 700,000 Sweden Finns live in Sweden.
Finland was under Sweden’s rule for several hundreds of years until 1809, when Sweden lost Finland to Russia in the war. The waves of Finnish immigration to Sweden continued over the years.
World War II led to the displacement of about 70,000 Finns to Sweden, and the 1950s and 1960s also saw large numbers of Finns moving to Sweden, often for work.
This is Anna Järvinen – singer-songwriter, author, painter, and proud Swedish Finn.
We recently met with Anna to talk about her favourite things from the Swedish-Finnish culture, and the differences in singing in Swedish versus singing in Finnish.
Swedish Finns are one of Sweden's five official national minorities, along with the Sami, Roma, Tornedalians, and Jews. Their cultures, traditions and languages have special protection in Swedish law. Sweden Finns, in short, have Finnish roots but live in Sweden – a people with two cultures and two languages. It’s up to individuals to define themselves as part of this
minority. An estimated 400,000 to 700,000 Sweden Finns live in Sweden.
Finland was under Sweden’s rule for several hundreds of years until 1809, when Sweden lost Finland to Russia in the war. The waves of Finnish immigration to Sweden continued over the years.
World War II led to the displacement of about 70,000 Finns to Sweden, and the 1950s and 1960s also saw large numbers of Finns moving to Sweden, often for work.
