# Languages of Finland
Finland has two national languages, Finnish and Swedish, alongside a set of legally recognized minority languages including the Saami languages, Finnish Romani, Karelian, and two sign languages, and a growing population of foreign-language speakers.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| National languages | Finnish and Swedish, with equal constitutional status[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) |
| Finnish speakers | Approximately 4.9 million first-language speakers in Finland; more than 0.5 million speak it as a second language[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) |
| Swedish speakers | Approximately 296,000 in Finland[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) |
| Saami languages | Three spoken in Finland: Inari Saami, Skolt Saami, and Northern Saami; official status since 1992 in the Saami native region[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) |
| Foreign-language speakers | 610,148 at the end of 2024, 10.8 percent of the population[2](https://stat.fi/en/publication/cm1jg8tr20lco07vwvoif9s6i) |
| Largest foreign-language groups | Russian (102,487), Estonian (49,563), Arabic (43,534) at the end of 2024[3](https://otos.stat.fi/bitstreams/f814d535-d394-411b-b813-daea6e78ead3/download) |
| Sign languages | Finnish sign language (4,000–5,000 first-language users among non-hearing Finns) and Finland-Swedish sign language (about 90 users, critically endangered)[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) |
| Karelian | About 5,000 speakers in Finland[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) |
## National languages
Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland, and the constitution guarantees both language groups the right to use their own language in contacts with the authorities.[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10993-023-09666-3) Finnish belongs to the Uralic language group, while Swedish is an Indo-European language of the North Germanic branch.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) Written Finnish dates back approximately 500 years.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
Finland Swedish is a regional variant of Swedish, and guidance on it aims to prevent it from becoming too different from the Swedish used in Sweden.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
## Minority languages
The Saami languages are the languages of the indigenous population of Finland, and three are spoken there: Inari Saami, Skolt Saami, and Northern Saami, each with its own written language and orthography.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) Since 1992, the Saami languages have had official status in the Saami native region comprising Enontekiö, Inari, and Utsjoki, as well as the northern part of [Sodankylä](https://www.edgepedia.org/sodankyla).[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
Finnish Romani has been present in Finland for approximately 450 years, mainly as a spoken, family-internal, and code language, with efforts to develop it as a literary language starting around the beginning of the 1970s.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) Karelian, the closest linguistic relative to Finnish, has about 5,000 speakers in Finland.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
Two sign languages are used in Finland. Finnish sign language is the first language for 4,000–5,000 non-hearing Finns, with another 6,000–9,000 hearing Finns using it as a first or second language. Finland-Swedish sign language has only about 90 users and is listed as critically endangered.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
## Foreign-language speakers
More than 150 different first languages are spoken in Finland.[1](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/) The number of foreign-language speakers grew from 24,783 in 1990 to 610,148 at the end of 2024, an increase of 51,854 during 2024 alone, reaching 10.8 percent of the population.[2](https://stat.fi/en/publication/cm1jg8tr20lco07vwvoif9s6i) Russian is the largest foreign-language group with over 100,000 speakers, followed by Estonian and Arabic.[2](https://stat.fi/en/publication/cm1jg8tr20lco07vwvoif9s6i) • [3](https://otos.stat.fi/bitstreams/f814d535-d394-411b-b813-daea6e78ead3/download)
## References
1. [Languages of Finland and language policy, Institute for the Languages of Finland (Kotus)](https://en.kotus.fi/on-language/languages-of-finland-and-language-policy/)
2. [Number of foreign-language speakers exceeded 600,000 during 2024, Statistics Finland](https://stat.fi/en/publication/cm1jg8tr20lco07vwvoif9s6i)
3. [Finland in Figures 2025, Statistics Finland](https://otos.stat.fi/bitstreams/f814d535-d394-411b-b813-daea6e78ead3/download)
4. [Digital communication as part of family language policy, Language Policy](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10993-023-09666-3)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Languages and dialects › Named languages by region › Languages of Europe*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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