Study title

The study investigated Finnish expatriates' views of Finland and experiences of living abroad. Main topics of the survey included well-being, social networks, political participation, reasons for moving abroad, the services available for expatriate Finns, the effects of COVID-19 and Brexit on expatriate Finns, and the respondents' interest in moving back to Finland. The survey was conducted in co-operation with the Church Council/Office of the Church Council Department for International Relations, the Finland Society, the Finnish Seamen's Mission, and the Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation. The respondents' life situation was surveyed with questions on what their current home country was, how long they had lived in their current home country, and which factors had influenced their move to their current home country (e.g. work, studies, work of their spouse, desire to live abroad, parent' background in the target country). The respondents were also asked how long they intended to live in their current country of residence, which factors affected their intention to not live in their current country of residence permanently (e.g. their work, their studies, career insecurity, children's schooling, desire to return to Finland), and whether they had lived abroad before and for how long. Full-time studies abroad and the field of studies were also charted. On the topic of well-being, the respondents were asked how much they enjoyed in their current country of residence, whether they had good social networks in their country of residence, and how they would describe their health at the moment. Interest in receiving welfare-related services (e.g. health care/medical counselling, housing and environment, employment and working conditions, social relationships) from Finnish providers was also investigated. Opinions on the services available to expatriate Finns from Finland were examined with questions on how well the respondents knew several organisations that offer...