The Hietalahti family moved to Sweden a couple of years ago for work. In the new home country, I am fascinated by the family orientation and the desire to include everyone.
Short a walk in Mölndal, south of Gothenburg, reminds me of the Pippi Longstocking movies you know from childhood. The different colored wooden detached houses exude the idyll of a folk home.
There are also newer detached houses in the area and they are opening the door of one of them Ville and Niina Hietalahti together with the family dog Lola Svensson. Management duties at Volvo took Ville to Sweden a couple of years ago, and the rest of the family, wife Niina, who works as an entrepreneur, and three children, followed 1.5 years ago. According to Ville, the reason for the move was primarily the job offer he received.
“I had worked in management positions in the forest industry for 20 years. There was also an interest in getting into a new culture and a completely new industry in terms of work. I was employed by Stora Enso and used to working with Swedes,” says Ville.
The family the move can well be described as a brain drain. Between 2010 and 2022 migration Away from Finland, 2016 was at its hottest, but it waned towards the end of the last decade. Based on the figures for 2022, emigration from Finland to other countries and to Sweden has started to rise again.
“There’s a lot of talk about brain drain, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see another wave of migration from Finland to Sweden”, Ville Hietalahti refers to the migration wave of the 1960s and 70s.
What is it based on?
“Climate, standard of living, purchasing power…”, Niina Hietalahti begins and her husband continues:
“The weakness of Finland’s prospects. The tax burden is starting to be really heavy for many. Maybe it’s the case that the structures of the welfare society are much stronger in Sweden than in Finland,” Ville Hietalahti says and adds:
“The outlook in Finland is so weak that many make a change of conclusion. The arguments that have supported being in Finland, such as good basic education, somehow no longer hold.”
He predicts that the discussion will intensify in the near future, because Finland and Sweden have become accustomed to a similar welfare society.
“The situation in Finland seems to have reached a crisis in many ways. Many things we are used to are beginning to seem like the carrying capacity of the Finnish economy is not enough to maintain the social structure we are used to,” he adds.
According to the family, many things are better in Sweden, but gang crime is a thorn in the bird’s nest.
in Sweden is also available check it out for experts who cannot be found there.
“They have the right to have a quarter of their income practically tax-free for five years. One has been built here and it has certainly been thought about that the kind of talent that is needed from abroad must have the incentives offered by society. It will then happen in terms of taxation”, says Ville Hietalahti.
In Sweden, the overall tax rate is not much different from Finland, but at the moment it is significantly cheaper for Finns using euros in Sweden due to the weakened krona.
“The value-added percentage of food is two percentage points lower here, but the food is also cheaper,” says Niina Hietalahti.
Food in Sweden VAT rate is currently 12, when in Finland it’s 14.
Niina saysthat I don’t want to bark or criticize Finland, but how else can you bring up grievances?
“I have been reminded of Finland’s kind of exclusion. In Sweden, they want to include everyone. My son started high school here and I started to find out what other options are there than high school? There are no others. Everyone goes to high school, but it can be an auto mechanic high school or a physics high school. 16-year-olds are not sharply divided into smart and stupid, as in Finland.”
The Hietalahti moved to Sweden primarily after the work of Ville Hietalahti.
In Sweden, upper secondary schools do not have matriculation records, but a diploma thesis is done in the third year. Everyone graduates and is involved in the decision-making process, Niina Hietalahti says and adds:
“For families, this is a real paradise. Medicines for under 18s are free”, hobbying is insanely cheap.
The youngest child in the family plays the violin and plays football. The music teacher visits the school once a week to give a violin lesson, and there is also one orchestra lesson.
“There is such a system here, a municipal cultural school, which organizes all art education for children. It costs 1,200 kroner (about 103 euros) in six months, when you play the violin two hours a week. Playing at the Käpylä Music College in Helsinki costs 400 euros per six months. It is absurdly discriminatory that only the children of well-off people can practice music in Finland.”
The President of the Republic, Alexander Stubb, visited Hietalahti’s home corners in Gothenburg at the end of April.
Republic president Alexander Stubb said during his state visit that he had received a message from Swedish-Finnish organizations that it is now true coolia to be Finnish in Sweden.
“I interpret Stubb’s words above all in the foreign and security policy bubble. It says more about it. Finns are certainly cool about that for a reason. We are probably looked up to. I’m guessing that if you are in the service of the Finnish Defense Forces or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it’s definitely really cool. Everyday life is different,” says Ville Hietalahti.
Niina Hietalahti summarizes that three Finnish things are now cool in Sweden:
“Finland’s national defense skills”, Kolmen kaveri ice cream and Sanna Marin.
Safety is one thing that often comes up in Finland from Sweden. Gang violence gathers headlines in Finland, and Gothenburg has not escaped it either.
“Of course, we have gone to see the neighborhood of Biskopsgården, for example, where they say the police don’t dare to go. It looks like Vantaa, it’s a bit neater and there are nicer cars,” Ville Hietalahti says and adds:
“Gang crime is a clear flaw in this bird’s nest. That’s the hottest question here.”