Ethnic Swedes
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
Ethnic Swedes, or just Swedes, are those who are considered, by themselves or others, to be Swedes rather than anything else, whether or not they hold a Swedish citizenship. These are people who speak Swedish language and/or are ethnically and culturally distinct from their surroundings and somehow of Swedish heritage.
The notion of ethnic Swedes is controversial, especially the Swedish and Finnish views contradict each other in some parts, and the usage in English does not necessarily reflect the usage in Sweden/Finland or in Swedish/Finnish. The connotation of Swede, when used without qualifications, as it's used by some Swedes, is for a person who is a citizen of Sweden, and living in Sweden, and born by Swedish parents. Not all Sedes use this definition. Immigrants may by some persons be considered as Swedes if their Swedish is flawlessly without foreign accent or if they are prominent industrialists or sportsmen and they appear assimilated in the Swedish culture.
- In a Swedish mindset, the concept of ethnic Swedes is actual chiefly in the following contexts:
- To distinguish "Swedish citizens" who are naturalized immigrants, but not indistinguishably assimilated, from the other Swedes.
- To distinguish, typically in school settings, pupils of immigrant heritage from them without.
In addition to this is ethnic Swedes in a Swedish mindset sometimes used to include, besides the ethnic Swedes living in Sweden, the Swedish speaking minority living in Finland (Finland-Swedes, including the inhabitants of Åland, about 300,000, comprising about 6% of the population ), the Swedish speaking minority living in Estonia (Estonia-Swedes) and the Swedish speaking minority living in Gammalsvenskby (Old Swedish Village) in Ukraine. Some of the Estonia-Swedes and Ukraine-Swedes don't speak Swedish any more, but are yet considered being ethnic Swedes (cf Ethnic German). In this context is the ethnic Swedes living outside Sweden sometimes called "East-Swedes" (in Swedish östsvenskar), to distingusih these from the ethnic Swedes living in Sweden proper, called rikssvenskar or västsvenskar ("Western-Swedes").
- In an English language context, the concept of Ethnic Swedes may be used for:
- People of Swedish heritage, typically immigrants to the Americas
- Minorities outside of Sweden with Swedish mother tongue, who however might not designate themselves as "ethnically Swedish"
- the inhabitants of the culturally and linguistically Swedish Åland Islands
- the Swedes living in the Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa (Estonia-Swedes)
- the Swedes living in Gammalsvenskby (Old Swedish Village) in Ukraine.
- The 265,000 Finland-Swedes in Mainland Finland.
The Finland-Swedes form an important minority group in Finland, about 300,000, comprising about 6% of the population if the inhabitants of Åland are include, and about 5.5% of the population if the inhabitants of Åland are not included (there are also about 60,000 Finland-Swedes that have moved to Sweden). They have lived there at least as long as the Finns: in fact, in the areas where they historically have comprised the majority of the population they have lived longer than the Finns, making them the aboriginals of these areas.
A Swedish minority has also existed in Estonia (Estonia-Swedes) at least since the Viking age. There were about 12,000 in 1563. Estonia was under Swedish rule 1558-1721, after which the territory was ceded to Russia after the treaty of Nystad. In 1781 1,300 Estonia-Swedes, living at Dagö, were forcibly moved to Ukraine by Catherine II of Russia, where they formed Gammalsvenskby (Old Swedish Village). At the census in Estonia 1934 there were 7,641 Estonia-Swedes (Swedish speaking, 0.7 % of the population in Estonia), making Swedes the third largest national minority, after Russians and Germans. During World War II most Estonia-Swedes fled to Sweden. Today there are maybe a few hundred Estonia-Swedes living in Estonia and a few hundred in Ukraine.