Immigration in the Strategies of Municipalities in Finland

This study explores the relationship between immigration and strategic planning in Finnish municipalities and examines how these municipalities understand and plan for pluralism. The empirical data is drawn from a comprehensive survey distributed to all the Finnish municipalities and interviews with selected key stakeholders from those municipalities. All the rural and urban municipalities anticipate that immigration would increase substantially in the next ten years. Despite this expectation, the municipalities’ strategies inadequately address immigration. The main reasons for municipalities overlooking immigration in their strategic planning are the lack of a future-focused outlook and negative attitudes towards immigration. Immigration is rarely considered in depth, and local municipalities plan inadequately for pluralism.