Swedish diaspora

The Swedish-speaking Finns or Finland-Swedes form a minority group in Finland. The characteristic of this minority is debated: while some see it as an ethnic group of its own[11] some view it purely as a linguistic minority.[12] The group includes about 265,000 people, comprising 5.10% of the population of mainland Finland, or 5.50%[13] if the 26,000 inhabitants of Åland are included (there are also about 60,000 Swedish-speaking Finns currently resident in Sweden). It has been presented that the ethnic group can also be perceived as a distinct Swedish-speaking nationality in Finland.[14] There are also 9,000 Swedish citizens living in Finland.[15]

The presence of Swedish-speaking permanent residents in what is now Estonia (Estonian Swedes) was first documented in the 14th century, and possibly dates back to the Viking Age. There were an estimated 12,000 Swedes resident in Estonia in 1563, mainly distributed along the coastal regions and islands. Estonia was under Swedish rule 1558–1710, after which the territory was ceded to Russia in the 1721 Treaty of Nystad. In 1781, 1,300 Estonian Swedes of the island of Hiiumaa (Dagö) were forced to move to New Russia (today Ukraine) by Catherine II of Russia, where they formed Gammalsvenskby (Old Swedish Village). According to the 1934 census, there were 7,641 Estonian Swedes (Swedish speaking, 0.7% of the population in Estonia), making Swedes the third largest national minority in Estonia, after Russians and Germans. During World War II, almost the entire community of Estonian Swedes fled to Sweden. Today there are, at most, a few hundred Estonian Swedes living in Estonia and a few hundred in Russia and Ukraine, with the estimates varying widely depending on who identifies, or can be identified, as a Swede. Many of them are living in northwestern mainland Estonia and on adjacent islands and on the island of Ruhnu (Runö) in the Gulf of Riga.

In a nationalist context, the ethnic Swedes living outside Sweden are sometimes called 'East-Swedes' (in Swedish: östsvenskar), to distinguish them from the ethnic Swedes living in Sweden proper, called rikssvenskar.

Many Swedes spend their holidays in France especially in the South of France, small towns and villages. altogether totaling 20,000. They live in Ile-de-France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Languedoc-Rousillon, Midi-Pyrenees, Brittany, Poitou-Charentes, Picardy, Upper Normandy, Lorraine, Alsace, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Aquitaine, Pays de la Lore, and Centre-Val de Loire.[16] to 25,000[16] Swedes in the Gallic country.[16]

There are 3,233 Swedes living in Italy. When Italians bombed the Swedish ambulance in Abyssina, protests began. There are 900 Swedes in Ethiopia, 841 in Eritrea, 723 in Djibouti, 642 in Somalia, 608 in Tunisia, 598 in Algeria, 584 in Egypt, 577 in Morocco, 542 in Albania, 522 in Libya, 498 in Saudi Arabia, 445 in Haiti, 400 in Lebanon, 2,300 in Greece, and over 3,000 in UAE.

There are 46,500 Swedes in Ghana and 141 lived in Togo. They live in Accra, Cape Coast, Beyin, Sekondi-Takoradi, Butre, Anomabu, Elmina, Saltpond, Kumasi, Koforidua, Sunyani, Ho, and Nkawkaw.

There are 2,000 Swedes living in Nigeria. When they settled in Nigeria, they brought their culture. Some Swedes teach other Nigerians Swedish.

There are 400 Swedish South Africans. They live in Cape Town, Durban, and the others.

There are numerous Swedish descendants in places like the United States and Canada (i.e. Swedish Americans and Swedish Canadians), including some who still speak Swedish.

The majority of the early Swedish immigrants to Canada came via the United States. It wasn't until after 1880 that significant numbers of Swedes immigrated to Canada. From WWI onwards, almost all of the Swedish immigrants entered Canada coming directly from Sweden. In addition to Swedish immigrants from south-central part of Sweden, a relatively large number of Swedish immigrants came from Stockholm and northern Sweden. The newcomers played an important role in the development of the Canadian prairies.

Swedish Canadians can be found in all parts of the country. Many Swedish social, cultural, political, business and welfare organizations, both religious and secular, can be found in all major Canadian cities and some of the smaller towns and rural communities. Some of the Swedish traditions, such as Midsummer, Walpurgis, and St Lucia are still celebrated by the community today.[17]

Swedes settled mainly in Argentina,[18] Brazil, Costa Rica and Chile. Numerous communities can be found in these countries, especially in Misiones Province and Buenos Aires, in Argentina, in the South and Southeast of Brazil, and there are some Swedish communities in southern Chile.

Many Swedes settled in Australia and New Zealand. Organized immigration from Sweden occurred during the 19th century when Queensland and Tasmania invited immigrants to take up farming leases. Many people of Swedish descent can be found in these countries.

Swedish soldiers taken prisoner during the Great Northern War were sent in considerable numbers to Siberia. They numbered perhaps 25% of the population of Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia, and some settled permanently. There are also Swedes located in St Petersburg, in Ural and in Siberia.

Scandinavian migration to Britain is a phenomenon that has occurred at different periods over the past 1,200 years.