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BASAAR Project

Baltic Sea- Agenda for Regions in a Globalizing World

Asian Populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Maija Merimaa - Taina Kiviniemi City Urban Facts Helsinki,30 February 2010

BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Project Number CB3

Project Title Baltic Sea – Asia Agenda for Regions in a Globalising World

Title of Deliverable Asian Populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Work-package contributing to the Deliverable WP2 Knowledge Society

Author(s) Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi

Abstract Statistical report on Asian populations of the Baltic Sea region in 2000’s. Special focus on student populations.

Keywords BASAAR, Globalization, Asia, Central Baltic Sea region

Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi i 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Table of Contents

Foreword ...... 1

1 ...... 3 1.1 Helsinki Region ...... 6

1.2 Southwest Finland ...... 11

2 ...... 14 2.1 and Uppsala ...... 14

3 ...... 21 3.1 Tallinn and Harju County ...... 21

4 ...... 25 4.1 Riga ...... 25

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Foreword

This report is one in a series produced by the project “Baltic Sea – Asia Agenda for Regions in a Globalising World” (hereinafter – BASAAR). The BASAAR project was co-funded by EU’s Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013 under the priority 2 “Economically Competitive and Innovative Region”. This priority focuses on enhancing the overall economic development and competitiveness of the programme area. It emphasises innovations and broad, qualitative co-operation. Moreover, the development of connections to facilitate cross-border co-operation and a better flow of goods and people is another focus, together with the utilisation of the labour force and the development of the tourism sector1.

One of the main aims of the BASAAR project is to improve the capacity of the Central Baltic region to adjust to globalization, with special focus on how the developing Asian economies will affect the Central Baltic Sea region. The project was organised around three main themes: 1) Knowledge society, 2) Resource inventory and 3) Networks and flows. The findings related to the three themes were complemented by a scenario study presenting four long-term scenarios for the region and its relation to Asia. To get an independent view, Asian experts were invited to comment on the scenarios.

The project results are presented in a set of three independent reports providing benchmark results, analysis and action recommendations related to each of the three project themes, an executive summary of all recommendations and the scenario report. Project reports are mainly intended to serve as background papers for planners involved in regional planning processes of the project partners and other organisations. All reports can be downloaded from the websites of the project partners.

The BASAAR project partners:

City of Helsinki Urban facts, Finland City of Stockholm, Sweden City of Uppsala, Sweden Harju County Government, Estonia Office of Regional Planning, Stockholm County Council, Sweden Regional Council of Southwest Finland, Finland Riga City Council, Latvia Riga Planning Region, Latvia

1 Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013, p. 56; http://www.centralbaltic.eu/programme, accessed on 30.01.2010

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Tallinn City Office, Estonia Science Park Ltd., Finland Regional Council, Finland (Lead Partner)

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

1 Finland

Finland is a country with 5.3 million inhabitants and a rather small and mostly recently arrived foreign population. Still in 2008 the share of foreign citizens of the Finnish population was only 2.7%, while those with foreign mother tongue made up as much as 3.6% of nation’s inhabitants. As a result, there are about 143 000 foreign citizens in Finland, two thirds (64%) of whom are Europeans.

During the last 20 years, the share of Asians of the foreign citizens has grown from 10% in 1990 to 21% by 2008. During the last decade the growth of Asian population has been particularly strong, and the number of both Asian citizens in and of Asian to Finland has doubled during the 2000’s. All in all, in 2008, the Asians population of Finland consisted of almost 30 000 and Asian immigration of over 5000 individuals.

Graph 1.1 Asian population in and Asian immigration to Finland in 2000-2008

Source:

There are seven Asian populations of over 2000 citizens in Finland. The biggest of these are Chinese (4620), Thais (3932), (3238) and Indians (2736). In addition, there are over 2000 people from the Indian peninsula that are not from , but from , or . All in all, when counted together the population of Asians from Indian peninsula is as big as the Chinese population of Finland.

Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi 3 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Graph 1.2 Asian population in Finland by nationalities in 2008 (n=29 597)2

Source: Statistics Finland

The Asians are more important group among foreign students than in the overall foreign population: while the share of Asians of the foreign population is 21%, their share of the foreign tertiary level students is as high as 31%, and since 2005 Chinese have been the biggest particular group of foreign students (Statistics Finland).

The high share of Asians of the students is partly explained by the age structure: from the graph below it can be seen, that the Asians are even more overrepresented in the age groups of 20-34 than foreigners in general.

2 This as well as other graphs depicting the constituency of the Asian population of Finland are slightly distorted due to the citizenships that have been granted to Asian citizens. Asian immigrant who have been granted Finnish citizenship are no longer visible in these statistics 30.02.2010 4 Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi

BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Graph 1.3 Age distribution of Finnish, foreign and Asian citizens in Finland in 2008

Source: Statistics Finland

The student statistics reveal that the most important sources for Asian students are , India and the rest of the Indian peninsula. It can also be seen that the Chinese are clearly overrepresented within Asian the student population. The share of Indians corresponds to their share of the whole Asian population in 2004, while other nationalities from the Indian peninsula are slighlty overrepresented within the student population.

Graph 1.4 Shares of different nationalities of among Asian students in 2004 (n=2249)

Source: OECD

The focus of this report is in skilled Asian immigration in two : Uusimaa region and Southwest Finland. Helsinki is the capital of Finland, and the Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi 5 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

share of people with foreign mother tongue is twice as big in Uusimaa region (7%) as in all Finland, while the share of foreigners in Southwest Finland is quite close to the Finnish average of 3.6%. Altogether almost two thirds (61%) of Asians in Finland lives in these two regions.

Graph 1.5 Geographical distribution of Asian population in Finland in 2008 (n=29 597)

Source: Statistics Finland

1.1 Helsinki Region

Uusimaa, which includes the Helsinki metropolitan region, is often described as the engine of Finnish economy. It is also the most densely populated region fo Finland, with altoghert 1.2 million inhabitans (23% of popualtion). The share of foreign citizens (7,5%) and of people with forein mother tongue (5%) in the region are almost double in comparison to the Finnish average. All in all, half of all foreign citizens as well as of Asian citizens in Finland live in the Uusimaa region.

The foreign citizens, however, are not distributed geographically equally around the whole region. On the contrary, 92% percent of them lives in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The Helsinki metropolitan area is also a major student hub,which grants the region a crucial role in attracting skilled immigrants to Finland.

The Asian population of Uusimaa has grown at the same pace with the Asian population of Finland. The population doubled between 2000 and 2008, and the immigration grew four-fold during 2000-2008. As a result, in the end of 2008 the Asian population of Uusimaa crossed the limit of 15 000, and the Asian immigration rose to 2 500 individuals.

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Graph 1.1.1 Asian citizens in and Asian immigration to Uusimaa in 2000-2008

Source: Statistics Finland

The 2 500 Chinese form the most numerous Asian popualtion in Uusimaa. However, the main difference between the Asian popualtion of Uusimaa and that of whole Finland, is that the share of Asians from Indian peninsula is clearly higher in Uusimaa. All in all, every fourth Asian in Uusimaa is from Indian peninsula. Therefore, if counted together, in Uusimaa the biggest Asian population are not the Chinese, but the people from Indian peninsula.

Graph 1.1.2 Asian citizens in Uusimaa by nationalities in 2008

Source: Statistics Finland

Although Chinese have a longer history of immigrating to Finland than the people from Indian peninsula, the immigration from Indian peninsula has increased rapidly since early 2000’ and since 2006 the number of Indian immigrants has even reached the number of immigrants from China on 2006. Also, if counted together, the rest of the Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi 7 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Indian peninsula – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal – were the third biggest Asian immigrant group in 2008.

Graph 1.1.3 Immigration to Uusimaa in 2000-2008: five biggest groups of Asian immigrants

Source: Statistics Finland

However, within this project the focus is not in the total immgiration, but within the skilled immigration, which, due to the lack of statistics regarding skilled workes, is analyzed mainly via student statistics. They reveal that although Europeans are the biggest group of foreign students at Uusimaa universities, as much as one third (30,5%) of the students are Asian, in addition to which their number has increased throughout the 2000’s from 500 in 2000 to over 800 in 2007.

Graph 1.1.4 The number of Asian student at the Uusimaa universities in 2000-2007

Source: kota database

Although the number of Asians from Indian peninsula exceeds the number of Chinese in Uusimaa, the Chinese are still by far the largest Asian student population. For

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

example, the number of students with Chinese as their mother tongue equals 52% of Asian students at the Uusimaa universities.

All in all, while students with Chinese as their mother tongue are counted in hundreds, there is remarkably speakers of any other Asian mother tongue. Therefore, although there is a myriad of ofifcial languages within the Indian peninsula, it is evident that the student population from Indian peninsula is much smaller than the Chinese student population.

Table 1.1.1 Ten most common Asian mother tongues at universities of applied sciences and universities in Uusimaa region in 2007

University of applied sciences Universities Chinese 182 Chinese 450 Vietnamese 53 59 Bengal 44 Vietnamese 52 Arabic 43 Japanese 44 Nepal 32 Bengali 41 Persia 22 Urdu 28 Tagalog, pilipino 13 Hindi 23 Urdu 13 Korea 21 Hindi 6 Tamili 19 Tataari 5 Thai 10 Thai 5 Source: Kota database

Asian students are focused on quite narrow branch of studies. Over half of them study at the Helsinki University of Technology and 13% at the two business universities. In addition, one fourth of Asian students studies at the multidisclipinary Helsinki University, which does not allow to draw any specific conclusions on their fields of expertise. The share of the four art universities of Asian students is less than 10%.

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Graph 1.1.5 Asian students by study fields at the Uusimaa universities in 2007 (n=869)

Source: Kota database

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

1.2 Southwest Finland

Southwest Finland is a region with about half a million inhabitants. Altogether 40% of the population lives in the biggest city of the region, Turku, which is also a university city. Approximately 12% of Finnish tertiary level students study in Southwest Finland, 85% of them in Turku.

The share of foreigners of the population in Southwest Finland is 2.8%, which slightly smaller than the Finnish average 3.6%. However, in Turku the share of foreign citizens is 4.5% and the share of people with foreign mother tongue 6.7%. The Asian population, however, is still quite marginal: there are altogether only 2 871 Asian citizens in Southwest Finland, and the share of Asians of the total foreign population is 22.5%.

Graph 1.2.1 Asian citizens in and Asian immigration to Southwest Finland in 2000-2008

Source: Statistics Finland

Almost half (42%) of the Asian population of Southwest Finland consists of Iranians and Iraqis. The Chinese population that consists of over 300 individuals is the third biggest, and the Indian peninsula counted together equals 7% of the Asian population of Southwest Finland.

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Graph 1.2.2 Asian population of Southwest Finland by nationalities (n = 2 871)

Source: Statistics Finland

During 2000’s Southwest Finland has received altogether 2255 Asian immigrants. However, the yearly number of immigrants from any particular Asian country to Southwest Finland is small and the yearly variation in the numbers on Individuals is considerable.

The statistics show that during the 2000’s China has been the main source of Asian immigration. Also, although the share of Indian peninsula of the Asian population is only 7%, their share of the Asian immigration is 11%. Therefore, if considering immigration China and Indian peninsula are more important regions than if focusing on the current constituency of the Asian population.

Graph 1.2.3 Total immigration to Southwest Finland from the largest Asian populations in 2000-2008

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Source: Statistics Finland

In Turku there are about a thousand foreign tertiary level degree students of whom 30% are Asian. Half of the Asian students study at the universities and half at the universities of applied sciences. Therefore, the share of Asians of foreign students is higher in universities of applied sciences, where every 2nd foreign student is of Asian background. At the universities, Asians amount only for one fifth of foreign students. No information is available regarding the nationalities of Asian students in Turku.

Table 1.2.1 Foreign degree students in the city of Turku, year 2007

Universities of Applied Tertiary level total Universities Sciences All foreign students 664 300 964 Asian students 143 150 293 Proportion of Asian of all foreign 22% 50% 30% students

Three quarters of the Asian students at Turku universities attend either science, technical or business studies. The proportion of technical students is somewhat lower than in Helsinki region, which is most likely due to the lack of separate university of technology in Turku.

No data is available on the study fields of the Asians at the Universities of applied science. However, as Finnish is not a major world language, it is reasonable to expect that most Asian student are registered into the three international programs: engineering, business administration and health.

Graph 1.2.4 Study fields of Asians students at the Turku universities in 2008 (n=143)

Source: Kota database

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2 Sweden

2.1 Stockholm and Uppsala

With its population of 9 million Sweden is clearly the biggest country participating in the Basaar-project. Sweden is also culturally more heterogeneous than the other countries and it has a longer history of modern labor-based immigration.

The modern history of labor-based began soon after the WWII. In 1950’s immigration was dominated by immigrant labor from other parts of Scandinavia as well as from , , and . In 1970’s Sweden began to regulate the immigration and in 1980’s the immigrant population became more heterogeneous as asylum-seekers from and , , , Turkey and arrived to Sweden. (http://www.migrationsverket.se)

Currently foreigners make up 12% of the Swedish population the foreign population exceeding already one million, and it has been predicted that in 2030 17% of Sweden’s population will consist of foreigners.

This project focuses on two regions of Sweden. Firstly, Basaar-project analyses the Asian connections of Stockholm region, a region which is the economic center of Sweden and has both the capital and the highest concentration of foreigners in country.

The other project region is Uppsala. The fourth biggest city of Sweden is located 67 km north from Stockholm. Currently the share of foreign population in Uppsala corresponds to the Swedish average, but it is expected to grow slower than the average. The city is well-known for the Uppsala University, which is the oldest university in Scandinavia.

Table 2. 1 Foreign population in Stockholm and Uppsala regions 2005-2030

Thousands 2005 2020 2030 Stockholm region Total population 1890 2216 2425 Foreign population 353,4 474,2 538,4 Uppsala region Total population 304 340 361 Foreign population 35,9 42,5 45,8 Sweden Total population 9 048 9 863 10 219 Foreign population 1 126 1 593 1 737

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Source: RTK, Befolkning, sysselsättning och ekonomisk tillväxt i östra mellansverige 2007

Despite that the focus of Basaar-project is on Stockholm and in Uppsala, the available statistics concern mainly whole Sweden. For example the data does not reveal whether

the constituency of foreign population in Stockholm and in Uppsala corresponds to the overall Swedish situation, and the conclusions on the significance of Asian population have to be done on the national-level.

The Asian population of Sweden began to increase as the asylum-seekers from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon immigrated to Sweden in the 1980’s. The growth of Asian population has since then continued to grow, and while in 2000 22% of foreign population was Asian-born, by 2008 their share was already 28%.

Graph 2.1 The share of Asian-born population of the foreign-born in Sweden in 2000, 2005 and 2008

Source: Statistics Sweden

The Asian immigration to Stockholm and Uppsala declined for few years in the beginning of 2000’s, but begun increasing quickly in 2006. The sudden rise in Stockholm region is mainly due to the expanded immigration from Iraq: in 2003-2005 every fourth but in 2006-2008 already every other of the 6 000 Asian immigrants arriving to Stockholm county was an Iraqi.

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Graph 2.2 Asian immigration to Stockholm and Uppsala in 2000-2008

Source: Statistics Sweden

Due to both historical reasons and to current trends in immigration, almost half (46%) of the Asian-born population in Sweden are either Iraqis or Iranians. The difference is huge in comparison to even the third biggest Asian-born population, Thais, whose share of Asian population is 7%.

Other bigger Asian-born populations in Sweden are Lebanese, Syrians, Chinese and Indians. All of these populations have grown in number, and their share of the rising Asian population of Sweden has stayed quite stable throughout the 2000’s.

Graph 2.3 Asian population of Sweden by nationalities in 2008 (n=359 472)

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Table 2.2 Asia-born population in Sweden in 2000, 2005 and 2008.

15 most common Asian countries of origin 2000 2005 2008 Iraq 49 372 72 553 109 446 Iran 51 101 54 470 57 663 10 353 18 277 25 858 Lebanon 20 038 21 441 23 291 Syria 14 162 16 772 18 786 China 8 150 13 277 18 256 India 11 110 13 593 15 263 10 898 12 352 13 516 4 287 8 345 11 446 South-Korea 9 170 9 798 10 080 5 460 7 214 8 626 Pakistan 3 100 4 703 7 687 Sri Lanka 5 854 6 228 6 539 Bangladesh 2 937 3 924 4 875 Japan 2 283 2 611 2 783 Asia Total 220 075 283 631 359 472 Foreign-born total 1002730 1124234 1279204

The regions of Stockholm and Uppsala are interesting from the point of view of skilled immigration. Stockholm is the economic center of Sweden, with a concentration of white-collar jobs. In addition, Stockholm and Uppsala are well-known university towns, and a quarter of Swedish students study in either Stockholm (20%) or Uppsala (5%).

However, despite their status as university towns, only Uppsala has a high share of students in comparison to its share of all population. Therefore, as also the student statistics describe the situation in all of Sweden, the data cannot be taken to be particularly descriptive of either Stockholm or Uppsala regions.

Student statistics provide often the best way to analyze skilled labor, but apart from the information that 19% of Swedish students are of foreign background 3 it is forbidden to register students according to their nationalities in Sweden. However, there is one exception: the first time registered students, whose share is one fifth (18-19% depending on the year) of all students, are classified according to their nationality.

3 Remark: Figures are for the students who were born in Sweden but both parents born abroad, the student himself who was born abroad and at least one parent born in Sweden and the student who was born abroad and no parent born in Sweden Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi 17 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

The data on first-time registered students reveals that during 2000-2008 the number of Asian students has grown tenfold and that of other foreign students have stayed approximately at the same level. This has resulted in the share of Asians of foreign students has growing from one fourth (26%) in 2000 to two thirds (67%) by 2008.

Graph 2.4 Number of first time registered foreign and Asian students in Sweden in 2000-2008

Source: The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket)

However, not all Asian student populations are growing at the same pace. Actually, the growing Asian student population consists mainly either of Chinese (29%) or of the people from Indian peninsula (35%). All in all 12% of the Asian population and 66% of Asian students come from these regions.

Graph 2.5 Share of Asian nationalities of the first time registered Asian students in Sweden in 2008.

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Source: The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket)

During 2000’s the Asian student population of Sweden has not only grown, but also become increasingly heterogeneous. First noteworthy Asians student population in Sweden was the Chinese, which was first followed by Indians in 2002, then by Pakistani, Iraqi and Bangladeshi. Apart from Indians, all these student populations continue to grow.Currently, although Chinese form the biggest Asian student population is Sweden, the total number of students from Indian peninsula outnumbers those from China.

Graph 2.6 First time registered Asian students in Sweden by their nationalities in 1990 and 2000-2008

Source: The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket)

The growth of Asian student population is not distributed equally between study fields. Biggest share of students (46%) studies either technology or science (17%). One fourth of Asians student focuses on social science, economy or law, most of whom presumably study economics.

Graph 2.7 The division of Asian students at different study fields in Sweden

Source: Högskoleverkets rapportserie 2008:7 R Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi 19 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Apart from students, statistics regarding the skilled immigration from Asia are scarce. However, for the city of Stockholm, there is data on the division of Asian labor force by sectors. While the Asian students focus on questions on technology, the four biggest sectors employing Asians in the city of Stockholm in 2008 were in order: wholesale and retail (22%), insurance, finance and real estate activities (17%), arts, entertainment and recreation (17%) and human health and social work (15%).

According to the statistics, only 10% of Asians in the city of Stockholm worked in professional, scientific and technical activities, while 6% were unemployed. On average 27% of Asians is employed in the two sectors employing mainly skilled workforce: professional and scientific work and financial, insurance activities and real estate activities.

Graph 2.8 Division of Asian labor force by sectors in Stockholm city in 2007

Source: Statistics Sweden

The statistics include data on the labor market situation of eight Asian nationalities. This reveals that Indians, Syrians and Turkish are overrepresented and Thais, Vietnamese and Lebanese underrepresented at the white-collar sector. Unfortunately, data on Chinese is not available.

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Graph 2.9 Employment of different Asian populations at two white-collar sectors in the City of Stockholm in 2007

Source: Statistics Sweden

3 Estonia

3.1 Tallinn and Harju County

Estonia has a population of 1.34 million, which makes it the smallest country included in the Basaar-project. This project focuses on the Harju County, which is both the demographic and the financial center of Estonia. All in all 30% of the Estonian population lives Tallinn, and if the surrounding Harju County is included, the share grows to 40%.

Almost one third (31%) of has a foreign mother tongue. However, the statistics are misleading, as 82% of the foreign population in Estonia is Russian speakers who can hardly be described as immigrants. Actually, if Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are omitted, foreign language speakers comprise only 3% of the Estonian population.

The Asian population of Estonia is hidden within the statistics. Even after omitting Russian, Belarusians and Ukrainians, three quarters of foreign language speakers belong to seven language groups of which none is non-European. As a result, the statistical data groups Asians together with Americans, Africans, Oceanians, Australians and most European nationalities. Therefore, it only allows to conclude that as the whole statistical group consists of only 9 074 people, the Asians cannot be but a small minority in Estonia. Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi 21 30.02.2010 BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Graph 3.1 Constituency of foreign population in Estonia in 2008 (N = 420 050)

Other common languages: Finnish, Tatar, Latvian, Jewish, Polish, Lithuanian and German

It has been often noted that immigrants concentrate around bigger cities, and Estonia is no exception: altogether 57% of the “others” live in Harju county. Even so, the group “other” is marginal also in Harju: while the share of the group “other” is 0.7% of total Estonian population, it rises up to just 1% in Harju County.

Graph 3.2 The geographical distribution of population “other” in Estonia (n= 9047)

The population in the group “other” has decreased by hundred in Harju County during the 2000’s. However, this resonates with the overall demographic development in Estonia, and the share of the “others” of the Harju County’s population has stayed same.

The immigration to Estonia is very much dominated by Europeans, and in 2007 92% of the immigration to Estonia consisted of Europeans. Despite this, Europeans are the only continent from which the net immigration is negative, more Europeans moving out from Estonia than in there. 30.02.2010 22 Maija Merimaa & Taina Kiviniemi

BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Asians are clearly the 2nd biggest group of immigrants arriving to Estonia and the biggest source of positive net migration to Estonia. However, the phenomenon shouldn’t be exaggerated: although the share of Asians of the immigration is 4% and the immigration from Asia has more than tripled during 2004-2007, still only 154 Asians immigrated to Estonia in 2007.

Graph 3.3 Immigration from and emigration to Asia 2004-2007

Student statistics are often the best available method analyzing of skilled immigration. However, as there is no data available regarding the total number of Asians in Estonia, it is impossible to conclude whether the 183 Asians students form an important part of the Estonians’ Asian population.

Also, despite that three quarters of non-European students are Asian, the share of Asians of the whole student population is only 0.26%. As a result, even if the students would be remarkable group within the Asian population, the Asians are not a remarkable student group in Estonia.

Table 3.1 Students by continents in Estonia in 2005-2008

2005 2006 2007 2008 All students 68287 68767 68168 68399 Students by citizenship Europe 65332 67026 66495 66730 Asia 164 182 152 183 Northern-America 12 17 24 26 4 3 11 19 Latin-America and Carabean 3 6 12 15 Australia and Oceania 1 0 1 1 Unknown 2771 1533 1473 1425

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So far the Asians have been treated as one totality. However, student statistics reveal that 57% of the Asian students are Chinese. Therefore, the considerably large number of Asian students in comparison to students from any other foreign continent is mainly explained by the Chinese students looking for education outside of Chinese borders. Other Asian student populations – including 12 Georgian and 11 Indian students – are practically nonexistent.

Table 3.2 Asian students in Estonia in 2005-2008

2005 2006 2007 2008 Country of citizenship Countries of Asia total 164 182 152 183 China 119 123 94 106 1 3 7 12 India 11 17 11 11 Azerbaijan 2 2 3 6 Uzbekistan 1 4 5 6 Japan 4 4 4 5 Turkey 2 4 4 5 Israel 5 6 4 4 Kazakhstan 6 4 3 4

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

4 Latvia

4.1 Riga

With its population of 2.2 million Latvia is the bigger of the two Baltic countries included in the Basaar-project. One third of the Latvian population lives in Riga, although the population in Riga has, alike with the population of Tallinn, decreased slightly during 2000’s. However, the number of working age residents – who make up two third (66%) of Riga’s population – has stayed quite stable.

Population structure of Latvia resembles that of Estonia: only 60% of the population has Latvian as a mother tongue. Vast majority of foreign language speakers are Russians, the next biggest populations being Belarusians and Ukrainians. Although the share of “others” of the foreign population is twice as big as in Estonia, the foreign population can still be considered marginal.

Graph 4.1 Constituency of the foreign population in Latvia

Immigration to Latvia is small in scale. Although the number of immigrants has more than doubled since 2000, still in 2008 Latvia received only 3500 immigrants.

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Graph 4.2 Immigration to Latvia in 2000 - 2008.

Source: CBS

The group “other” includes all foreign language-speakers apart from Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. Also, the immigration statistics contain only the number of all immigrants from anywhere in the world. Therefore, neither of the statistics allows drawing of any conclusions on the Asian population of Latvia.

However, there is statistics regarding the immigration from China and India. The statistics reveal that the number of immigrants per year is still small and there is no clear trend - neither increasing nor decreasing. During 2000’s the total immigration from China has been 63 and from India 43 individuals.

Graph 4.3 Immigration from India and China to Latvia in 2000-2008

Source: CBS

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BASAAR Asian populations of the Baltic Sea Region

Regarding skilled immigration, the numbers of both Chinese and Indian students in Latvia are small, and for the last couple of years there haven’t been any Latvian students in Chinese or Indian Universities. The graphs depict a trend of decreasing numbers of Indian and increasing of Chinese students, but the total numbers are too small in order to draw any conclusions.

Graph 4.4 Chinese and Indian Students in Latvia, and Latvian students in China and India

Source: CBS

The universities with most “stable” Asian representation in Latvia are Latvia University and Riga Technical University. In addition Riga Stradiņš University – former Medical Academy of Latvia – has had some Indian students throughout the 2000’s. However, the Latvian Visa policy is very strict, and although Chinese and Indian students have shown some interest towards studying in Latvia, most have given up their plan, when they have heard of the difficulty of the immigration procedure.

Table 4.1 Chinese and Indian students at the different Latvian Universities

University 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 4 1 8 7 4 8 Indians LU 13 3 2 2 RTU RSU 4 24 6 8 7 5 3 ISMA 1

1 2 2 2 Chinese LU 2 2 1 2 1 RTU RSEBAA 1

BTA 10

BSA 1 1

1 TSI Source: CBS

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Contact Maija Merimaa Organisation City of Helsinki Urban Facts Mobile +358 45 261 5015 Email [email protected] Website http://hels2.fi/tietokeskus

This report reflects the authors’ views and the Managing Authority of Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013 cannot be held liable for the information published by the project partners.

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| City of Helsinki Urban Facts | City of Stockholm | City of Uppsala | Harju County Government | Office of Regional Planning, Stockholm County Council | Regional Council of Southwest Finland | Riga City Council | Riga Planning Region | Tallinn City Office | Turku Science Park Ltd | Uusimaa Region Council | BASAAR project © 2010