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2. Rovaniemi – genuinely international

In the strategy for the City of Rovaniemi 2013–2016, Rovaniemi is creatively Lapland-like
in character and genuinely international at the same time. The city is a centre featuring
versatile services and limitless possibilities.
Internationality requires the continuous development of integration efforts as well as new
methods of realization to encourage the city to renew and invigorate itself. When the op-
erational environment changes, persevering work and consistency are both required. The
city is updating its current internationalization strategy into both a programme and a de-
velopment plan for industry and livelihoods.
The City of Rovaniemi‟s Integration Programme has been prepared openly as a group pro-
ject and with the contribution of public discussion. The purpose is to build partnerships as
well as form networks and accept diversity. How an international city looks in the light of
statistics and figures also emerges from the programme.

FIG. 1. The growth in the numbers of foreign nationals residing in Rovaniemi, 1980–2012. Source: Statistics
Finland.

Foreign nationals as part of the entire population of the city total 2.3%, i.e. 1,424 people.
They are permanent residents in Rovaniemi, but do not (yet) have Finnish citizenship.
According to Lapland‟s emigration strategy forecasts, the total number of foreign nationals
is continuously growing. On average, the increase in the 2000s has been 7% per year.
Thus calculated, almost 2,000 from other countries who have moved here shall be living in
Rovaniemi and, in 2023, almost 3,000. According to the Act on the Integration of Immi-
grants and Reception of Asylum Seekers, all immigrants regardless of reason belong to the
sphere of integration.

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