I listened to a very interesting debate on Swedish-speaking Yle Vega radio about refugee politics in Sweden and Finland, concluding that policies in the two countries are very different and that Sweden shows much more solidarity towards people needing asylum. With the new Finnish government the difference will widen. Groups in Sweden who are against liberal Swedish immigrant and refugee politics congratulate Finland.

Some very interesting statistics can be found if one is interested in checking out immigrant and refugee demographics. These should be studied by all – especially politicians – who are seriously interested in understanding in what ways a country or community – economically or socially – is affected by immigrants and refugees. One source is the Migrationpolicy.org:

In an era when publics are seeking to understand how immigration is reshaping populations and local communities, and the effect that newcomers are having on economic, educational, and labor systems, it is imperative to have access to credible and authoritative data. The U.S. and international data-rich research offered here, and data resources offered through our Data Hub, empower users to learn more about the role of immigration in today’s world. Browse by region, by type of research, and more. And visit MPI’s Data Hub for data tools, maps, and more.

Below a map telling us total immigration and emigrant population by country. Finland is a white dot…. in Swedish we say “En vit fläck på kartan” when a place is considered nonexistent.

And below is a list of countries by refugee population. Click on the table to get the whole table.