Åland, an autonomous region of Finland, has the largest Swedish-speaking majority in Finland, with about 88% of the province, or about 25,500 people, speaking Swedish as their first language (specifically the Åland Swedish dialect). Swedish is also the sole official language of the province.[1] Finnish also has a presence, although it is small; only about 5% of Ålanders are Finnish-speaking.

Languages of Åland
OfficialSwedish
MinorityFinnish
ForeignEnglish
The Åland province of Finland, highlighted in red
Mother tongue
2000 2010 2020
Number % Number % Number %
Swedish 24,169 93.77% 25,173 89.88% 25,986 86.25%
Finnish 1,238 4.8% 1,373 4.9% 1,405 4.66%
Romanian 2 0.01% 166 0.59% 501 1.66%
Latvian 5 0.02% 195 0.7% 443 1.47%
Estonian 23 0.09% 138 0.49% 206 0.68%
English 69 0.27% 97 0.35% 164 0.54%
Norwegian 36 0.14% 34 0.12% 41 0.14%
Other 234 0.91% 831 2.97% 1,424 4.73%

There are 59 spoken native languages in 2020 (with a total population of 29,884):[2]

While the number of Swedish-speakers grew from 24,169 in 2000 to 25,862 in 2019, their percentage has dropped from 93.7% in 2000 to 86.5% in 2019. For Finnish, the percentage and number of speakers has been about same (from 1,238 to 1,401; from 4.8% to 4.7%). The percentage of speakers of other languages grew from 1.5% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2019.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Självstyrelselag för Åland 16.8.1991/1144 - 36 §. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
  2. ^ a b "Population 31.12. By Region, Language, Age, Sex, Year and Information".
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