Sanna Marin

Sanna Mirella Marin was born on 16 November 1985 in Helsinki.[2][1] She also lived in Espoo and Pirkkala before moving to Tampere.[2] Her parents split up when she was very young; the family faced financial problems and Marin's father Lauri Marin[3] struggled with alcoholism. After her biological parents separated, Marin was brought up by her mother and her mother's female partner.[4][5][6]

Marin graduated from the Pirkkala High School in 2004 at the age of 19.[7] Marin joined the Social Democratic Youth in 2006 and was its first Vice President from 2010 to 2012.[8][2] She worked in a bakery and as a cashier while studying,[9] graduating with bachelor's and master's degrees in Administrative Science from the University of Tampere.[5][9]

Marin's political career was described by the BBC as "beginning at the age of 20",[4] in the years following her high school graduation and beginning her affiliation with the Social Democratic Youth.[4][8] She initially unsuccessfully ran for election to the City Council of Tampere, but was elected in the 2012 elections.[4][2][10][11] She became chairperson of the City Council within months, serving from 2013 to 2017.[5] In 2017, she was re-elected to the City Council.[12] She first gained prominence after video clips of her chairing contentious meetings were shared on YouTube.[9]

Marin was elected second deputy chairperson of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2014.[13][5] In 2015, she was elected to the Finnish Parliament as an MP from the electoral district of Pirkanmaa.[14] Four years later, she was re-elected.[15] On 6 June 2019, she became the Minister of Transport and Communications.[13][16][9]

On 23 August 2020, Marin was elected chair of the SDP, succeeding Antti Rinne.[17]

Premiership of Sanna Marin 10 December 2019 – present
Premier	Sanna Marin
Cabinet	Marin Cabinet
Party	Social Democratic
Appointed by	Sauli Niinistö
Seat	Kesäranta
Official website

Prime Minister Marin, alongside other representatives of the Finnish Government, declared a state of emergency in the nation on 16 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2019, Marin was nominated by the Social Democratic Party to succeed Antti Rinne as the Prime Minister of Finland,[18][19] but Rinne formally remained party leader until June 2020.[20][21] In a narrow vote, Marin prevailed over Antti Lindtman.

A majority of the ministers in her five-party cabinet are women, numbering 12 out of 19 at the time of the cabinet's formation.[22][23] She is the third female head of government in Finland, after Anneli Jäätteenmäki and Mari Kiviniemi.[10][24][21]

Upon her confirmation by Parliament at the age of 34, she became Finland's youngest-ever prime minister, and was the youngest serving state leader until Sebastian Kurz regained the title in January 2020 [19][25][26][27]

During the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Marin's cabinet invoked the state of emergency in Finland to alleviate the epidemic.[28]

When Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven could not attend a European Council meeting in October 2020 because of his mother's funeral, Marin stepped in to represent Sweden.[29] In return, Marin asked Löfven to represent Finland at a Council meeting later that month.[30]

In January 2018, Marin and her fiancé, Markus Räikkönen, had a daughter, Emma.[31][32][33] In August 2020, Marin and Räikkönen married at the prime minister's official residence, Kesäranta.[34] Their permanent residence is in the Kaleva district of Tampere,[2] but during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have resided at Kesäranta.[32]

Marin describes herself as coming from a "rainbow family",[35] as she was raised by same-sex parents.[16][36][1] She was the first person in her family to attend university.[37]

Marin is a vegetarian.[38]

In October 2020, Marin took part in a photo shoot for the magazine Trendi in which she wore a blazer with nothing underneath. It aroused much public controversy, with critics accusing her of tastelessness and demeaning her office, and others defending her and accusing the critics of sexism.[39]

Marin was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.[40] On 9 December 2020, Marin was selected by Forbes to rank 85th on the list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[41][42] In 2020 she became a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.[43]

• Lemola, Johanna; Specia, Megan. "Who is Sanna Marin, the world's youngest prime minister?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 December 2019.

• Official website
• Sanna Marin at IMDb