Life in Finland: Pros and cons (Expat's Opinion)
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- Опубликовано: 6 янв 2025
- Hi there! Welcome to my RUclips channel where I share practical aspects about life in Finland, life in the UK and diverse how-tos for young business professionals, travelers and sports enthusiasts to make their lives better.
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7 pros of living in Finland: ekaterinapopova...
5 cons of living in Finland: ekaterinapopova...
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As a foreigner you don't really "learn Finnish" as much as you sort of just fail miserably at it but do well enough that Finns understand you and you can go about your daily life, of course sounding like you are 2nd grader in school.
Ninja ahaha, good point here! Finns always get excited about seeing a foreigner making effort to speak their language ☺️
I’ve never considered ever living anywhere other then the one and only “Merica” But now I’m starting to realize there are better countries out there and I’m thinking about moving to one. Finland would actually be perfect! I’m very used to cold weather. I live in Maine and the weather seems to be pretty similar in Finland. I LOVE cold weather. It’s my favorite. I honestly cannot stand heated weather. I hate summer. Oh and I’ve never been on a plane so I would love traveling to other countries or going to America to visit my family. And I’m sure if I had a great steady job here I would have no problem buying anything. Also I have learned that when your learning a new language it is actually very good for your mind! It makes it stronger. So learning it would be a challenge but it would ultimately expand my mind.
Here in South Florida its quickly turning into California. Ridiculous traffic, apartment complexes on every square inch and tons of police harassment. I'm getting out of this hell hole soon. I've lived my entire 26 years with it being summer 11 months out of the year I hope I adapt to the super cold alright....
Definitely gonna get 2 of those M12 Milwaukee heated jackets! One for me, one for my old man.
Yep, you need to get out of there, DJ. That should help you prepare to come back to the States after a few months or years.
There are on top of my head at least 3 youtubers I can come to think of that are from the US and now living in Finland.. can share names if you are interested.. It seems though that if you are an american, living a while in Finland will change you in a mostly positive way and you do not want to go back. This includes my ex-wife (not a youtuber) who moved here (Finland) and after we broke up stayed here (she has lived here now for 14-15 years).
Same!! I realize there are much better country’s than America, and I’d love everything about Finland except for the cold weather 😅 I’m a Georgia girl so I’m used to 90 degree weather in the winter
@@average_atlas5038 there are good things about America, 1 and 2 amendment. Nature.
A big pro for me is the Heavy Metal scene😏
Children of Bodom! 🤘🏻
Apocalyptica!
What's an artist and a album that is a good introduction?
My favorite Finnish metal bands are Hilastherion, Northern Flame, HB, Deuteronomium, Immortal Souls, Angel of Sodom, Enshrouding, Miriam, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. 🤷♂️
IMPALED NAZARNE / SUOMI FINLAND PERKELE 😁
I don't know what you mean by "hill" but the highest fell in Finland is 1 323,6 meters and it's named Halti. There are 15 fells over 1km in Finland, to be exact.
I meant the highest hill at the ski resort in Finland. And it's Ylläs with a peak at around 750 m, if I'm not mistaken!
yeah, but 1,323 meters is still a hill
An Irish friend of mine learned what I’d say almost perfect Finnish in a year and a half. Well, he’s a smart guy, but still. He even got service jobs just with English before that. Some people are doers, I guess
Yes, nothing is impossible if you really want to achieve your goals!
According to the latest research by Radio Sweden (Sveriges Radio), there are almost 470,000 people who speak or understand Finnish or Meänkieli, which was about 5.2% of the population of Sweden.
6,665 Finns live in Norway, some of course are originally Swedish speaking.
Also there are many Finnish people who live in many other countries and still speak and write Finnish.
So a fair lot of Finnish is spoken also in other countries.
I'll be visiting Finland again in October. Very excited
very useful information about Finland.
It is hard for the employer to fire you. On the other hand it means he hires less people because of that. Finland is a good country but there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed people.
cOMPANY WILL HIRE AS MANY EMPLOYEES IT NEEDS...
"It takes blood, tears and pain to learn Finnish" LOL
kernowrock555 I live in Finland, I was born in Finland, I am Finnish, I’ve been learning Finnish for 6 years and people have talked a lot of Finnish with me but I still can’t fcking speak Finnish good. Like wtf ??!!!
Why the hell you should learn Finnish? English is the lingua franca - German and French acceptable as a show-off, Spanish just enough for if you get lost while traveling south.
tylsimys67 well you see if you live in Finland you have to learn Finnish. It’s a law soo
terhitormanen Im learning right now its not that hard
@@taestoes_2936
It is? A law I mean.
best video so far about pros and cons of Finland! thank you for making this
Very good, almost the most honest videos about Finland ive seen
I'm watching a series called Bordertown...love it and as hard as I try I can't figure out any way to pick up words and learn any...at all!!! Still love the sound of it..Thanks for the info!!
Hello from Helsinki. good job Ekaterina!
I bet it's a good place for camping
It's good indeed!
this is just a dream for me from a tropical island paradise...anyway, just love what you do..cheers
thank you for your kind words! :)
Me too, I would love to move to Tampere one day. Leaving the tropical island life behind. Loved this video
Thank you Ekaterina for pointing out the pros and cons of living in Finland as an expat. Well, one thing I liked about you that despite the negative of anything, you like to focus on the positive/ bright side of it. Keep on the positive vibes. Regards from India. 💐 🌸 💐
well... maybe at 8:35 if u have said turkey was one of the tourism destinations, it would be appreciated. As i know, Kaş is one of the tourism destinations.for the nordic countries.İ don't know they are the low salary ones by the way....But Turkey is a very good option for the vip places for the fin people.
Hello Ekaterina : Would you tell me please what is that you ment in minute 13:03 that doctors give to you if you are ill ..? It sounds like " Burana " . Thank you. Regards .
Hey! Yes, you heard it right - BURANA. This is a local painkiller.
Props for nice video.. :)
One little thing.. I'm a Finn, workplaces here are mandated to provide workhealthcare, so a great deal of them have contracts with the private healthcare sector and as such as an employee you can go and get most sorted without any wait. As a whole, antibiotics are not prescribed here if not effective as perhaps as often as some countries, to lessen drug-resistance in bacterias, also common cold is most often from a virus which antibiotics does nothing on.
Thanks - very clear and helps to get a start in understanding what it is like to live in Finland. Great presentation.
Thank you!
Looks like you need to plan carefully exactly when in the year to visit for holiday
Finnish is surely difficult, but I doubt that it is more difficult than Chinese...
Thank you so much for posting this!!
You are welcome!
showing an accurate and deep understanding; great perceptive. 💡
Muito obrigado for all the insightful information. 🤝
So interesting, Finland. So expensive in dollars, pffft!. Nevertheless, I would like to move from Los Angeles, California, to Helsinki, Finland, so definitely!. Too much crime and corruption here and absolutely no police protection at all whatsoever!. I would never finish.
Here in South Florida its quickly turning into California. Ridiculous traffic, apartment complexes on every square inch and tons of police. I'm getting out of this hell hole soon.
Yes, America is corrupt. Try living in New York where the governor wants nothing to do with upstaters and only the big city. He never listens to what we want. America is becoming a 3rd world country as much as I hate to say it. It sucks and we want out too
Betanya82 don’t compare America to a 3rd world country you sound like a dumbass
@@isaacs8888 America is a powerhouse of a country economically and militarily but the outdated education systems and political corruption makes many want to leave. Myself included
@@massivegat5087 Exactly. Specifically focusing on the education aspect of America (as a high school student myself) KIDS. ARE. STRESSED. Not only do we have to go to school for 8 hours a day, but what do we come home? Homework for ANOTHER 8 hours. Especially during online school, I literally sit in front of a screen for 14 hours a day; either for school or for homework. And the capitalistic society makes it so EXTREMELY hard to work yourself up in terms of social status (or the American "Dream"), as opposed to what many people say. For example, taking AP courses is a huge must to get into a good college, however, to take one AP exam, you must pay more than $100, so imagine taking 2,3,4 exams. Also, the amount of money necessary to go to a good college is absolutely through the roof; even those in the upper-middle class can't afford it without going into debt. Basically, I hate it here, and I'm going to Finland in order to obtain a happier, more balanced life for me and my future family :).
If you couldn't tell, I'm really not having a great time with my grades rn,
Thanks for such informative points!
Even Russia's GDP versus GDP-PPP figures are suggesting than Russian earning 800 euros per month can buy food and things costing likely 2300-2500 euros in Finland. Only exceptions are electronic things because they come from China. Then there's other side of the coin: taxes paid in Finland can give you certain things you have to pay a lot in USA. Germany is surely cheaper place than Finland, except electricity which is expensive there but rather cheap in Finland.
buy how many Russians earn 800 Euros per month???
I'm a professinal Warehouse Keeper (Varastonhoitaja) in Finland. My wage would be 10€/hour but i'm unemployed. I once calculated that unemployment and rent benefits combined equals wage of 30€/workday (3.5€/hour on 40 hour workweek). So my wage would be fine if i had a job...
I think mostly the health care is really good, especially in Helsinki and especially if it is something more serious. You may have to wait for hours if you don't have appointment which is annoying, so better take phone charger, book and snacks
I have spent 3 months in Helsinki, life was just amazing, a city very close to nature and people trust each other
I'm glad to hear that you love it here!
I love finnish muskito's because they love me, they come to me greating me with great enthousiasm.
Hi, what is the date of video? because I can't see it , did you mention the prices after covid or before ?
Hey! This video was created in 2017, so way before COVID happened.
Espoo and Tampere which one is best
Which one is best espoo of Tampare
Love your video by the way and you have lovely hair 😂☺💕
Definitely informative, 👍
thanks!
Could you make a video more about moving to Finland and get a job if is hard or not..?
Hello Ekaterina Popova ,my name is farid l'm enginner l just finnished my high studies , l'm new to follow your channel , believe me l love it , l appreciate you so much :)
fary Tic thank you for your kind words! I will keep on creating new videos! 🙌🏼
go ahead we are with you :) forever
l can ask you something in private , feel free to talk with me by email ,,,, ?
maybe you can help me a little bit , really it's very important for me Ekaterina ?
And you have the good job security and you have good work- life balance.
How much is that hotel room you're staying in?
The highest point in Finland is 1 324 meters.
I can eat how much i want for 10-13 euros. There are buffets everywhere.
Hello, I enjoyed your video. I am a wheelchair user. Can you tell me about how accessible the country is for people with mobility problems? Thank you.
Hi Lisa! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed my video. Finland is an amazing place for people with mobility problems. The government invests loads to make life convenient for everybody here! Conditions are great here, even for managing on one's own!
Please tell me how to get a job in finland ??
Salaries are not so high for professional jobs. You will earn much more in the UK or USA for expert jobs. The point is salaries are ok for majority of jobs.
Well-done, Ekaterina. I really like the useful and insightful advice you provide, and how you try to keep things on the bright side. Keep up the good work.
what about the job market for international business students ......
I've recently share a blog post for English-speaking professionals: ekaterinapopova.fi/how-to-find-a-job-in-finland-for-english-speaking-professionals/ I hope it will answer your question!
What Field - You are best at ? If You can sell - holodelnik - to Eskimos - The Job IS Yours !
Nice video, thank you
I speak Swedish as a 3rd language so I’m confident about my upcoming trip to Helsinki in October!
Yes! Swedish is the 2nd language here, and ideally, people might even serve you in Swedish in cafes and supermarkets :)
Ekaterina Popova thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me that and I look forward to your future vids. All the best, Katya! 😎
Great Explain...... Thank You
Im only 13 but i deffintly want to live in finland
You Better start learning suomi ! When You are young - It is much easier !
Excellent work . .
I thank you for your opinion and your knowledge given. I must find me a Finnish Woman!!! I love the cold, snow, reindeer, snowboarding and healthy lifestyle!
I really liked your video, it is well done and interesting. Could you please talk about some of the unique laws they have in Finland? Also perhaps something about their ecology and different things they do. Thank you. 😊
Anthon Deutsch thank you for your feedback! I will consider discussing suggested topics in my future videos 🙌🏼
5th not true on bad side finish health care is great know from own side was in hospital few week even just went to see doctor
Just wait until you get older. Then you are up shit creek.
As I said, I haven't experienced it myself. Occupational healthcare is quite good, but it's a private sector.
Ekaterina, you leave me in two minds. Would you reccomend going to Finland for a working year trip?
South Africa would make a great vid!!!
I definitely recommend Finland to anyone - for living, working and studying :)
I don't know but I'm a hungarian speaker and I think that could help me a lot. I mean we almost have all the same gramatical cases and we are both in the Uralic language family, so It's not exactly true, that nothing helps to learn it. You just have to be a Uralic language speaker :D. Sorry I know I have too many advantages :P :D .
BTW nice video, it helps me a lot to get to know Finland better. I'm currently 18, and I want to plan out my future, and I have been watching videos about various countries to decide where to live after I *Finnish* my studies.
Yes, you are a very privileged young man! :D I haven't met any Hungarians in Finland yet, so I can't prove your hypothesis, but it might be true. Thank you for your kind words towards my video! Good luck with researching!
can you do a comparison video on finland vs sweden?
Yes, can do! My partner used to live in Sweden, so we can easily compare our spendings :)
What about the disabled elderly? Are we welcome there?
The country in general has created very comfortable conditions for disabled and elderly people. All the places are very accessible!
Ektarina Popova, gr8 video. nice view from the window. is the climate there dry-cold or wet-cold?
It's cold and reasonably dry in Helsinki!
I’m learning Finnish as a 2nd language and it’s pretty easy (for me at least)
I really love the country
That's awesome! For how long have you been living here? :D
Respect girl for you!
What kind of materials to learn finnish?
It depends on your level. Did you study Finnish before?
@@EkaterinaBlake not yet
Beautiful. 💖
Prices seem to be reasonable.
Tax ammounts vary very much depending on your situation. For example when I was student and worked at the same time my tax prosent was only 2% only 2%!!! and I got around 15k/year from work. Although I payd 10% because I wanted nice tax refund. I think that normal working adult pays around 30-40%.
geftoo yes, you are right, normally it's around 30-35%!
Does this 30-35% include your health insurance and pension fund? Or is that paid separately?
I also read that there are two types of taxes (national and umm... local? regional?). Is this 30-35% the total amount or is this just one of those two taxes?
Stormchantress Yes, everything included what you suggest.
Stormchantress When my monthly salary was 3500 € I got 2500 € after all tax, soc.sec. fee, insurance for unempoyment, funds for pension.
Jorma Kovanen thank you SO MUCH for this reply. People keep saying that Finland's got high taxes, but, honestly, in Poland you have to give much pretty much the same money to the government in taxes, social security etc. (with the gross income of 3500 PLN you're left with ca. 2700 PLN net income).
Hi i need more infos i Live in Germany how can i get Work premit of FinLand can u inform me please thx
Actually i hv German work premit and Italian PR how can i Apply for my Family in Finland
Are you German or Italian? Whether you are an EU citizen or not makes a difference.
I think it’s not that expensive though,well if you live on California Bay Area then that’s nothing 😑😒life here is so expensive and is getting more and more expensive by the day,I wanna move to Finland😊but when u mentioned the language pain blood and tears troubles I kinda wanted to cry 🥺😭
Yeah, it really depends. I've recently been to Denmark, and my friend went on a trip to Norway - Finland was definitely cheap in comparison to them!
Stunningly beautiful woman. Your hair is fantastic.
Simp
@tiny tete lol
Simp
@@jannieschluter9670 LMFAO
SIMP
🤣
It's the safety of Finland that makes want to move there.
Hey Ekaterina.
I am from India and planning to move to Finland. How much would it cost a person to stay for a month there? Rent, food, minimal transportation included. Eagerly waiting for your reply. 😊😊✌️✌️
Arjun Balachandran it depends on where you want to live, living in Helsinki, the capital is quite expensive especially the apartments
Hi Arjun! Check out my blog post or my video about the cost of living in Helsinki - it has a very good breakdown: ekaterinapopova.fi/life-in-helsinki-costs/
do i need to learn finnish to get a per time job ?
Depends on the industry and the job specifics, so it's hard to give a definite answer to this question!
will Canada be a better choice then ?
Even if you didn't have to, wouldn't it be the right thing to do? To learn the country's language even a little?
Sanna Tenhunen I totally agree with you! Much love to Suomi 🇫🇮
wow amazing country i wish i was there in finland
Excellent video. One of the many things I like about Russians is that you don't complain about the cold :)
Thank you :) Yeah, the cold makes us appreciate warm and nice weather more than others do!
Man hahahah, they are Russians they don't need to complain about cold.
Very interesting video e useful !
I'm from Italy and I'd like to move there for the nature, safety, quality of air/water and the cold that I love it so much.
But have you had difficult to find a job and a house there ?
I advice you to make a video about the nature, parks, lakes and forests.
Another to find a job or a house in Finland.
Tourist want to stay there legal that is possible or not please tell me
Can you please tell me isn't it hard to find odd jobs without finnish language ?
what do you mean by odd jobs?
Ekaterina Popova odd jobs means the jobs that one can find without any skill like sleaning. Driving etc
Ekaterina Popova cleaning*
I believe that it's not hard. I heard good things about www.freska.fi/, have a look at their career pages!
Very good informations! Thank you.
Do you've Facebook?
Returned to this video, and hah, hah, the language part: "like seriously, what was the purpose?" Yeah. It sure seems like that today! But back in the Stone Age there were several Finnic dialects/languages spoken in the Northern Europe, North-Western Russia was Finnic speaking from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains. It wasn't isolated language-islands back then, and was widely spoken. The fewer number Finnic speakers were assimilated by the north spreading Slavic speakers, so now Finland and Estonia appear these weird languages countries. And languages tend to evolve more simple and utilitarian: Indoeuropean old languages are more complex too compared to modern languages. Sure, it culturally isolates Finland, especially it isolates foreigners from the Finnish culture. But it's an attractive thing to be different from the main stream, right?
Yeah it has some "hard to learn" reputation, but any language can be learnt if you move to where it is daily needed and you connect with the people of that language. Finns just like to scare foreigners with the difficulty 😏.
How expensive are groceries like eggs, milk, beef, chicken, stuff like that.
10 eggs around 1.30e, 1l of milk 0.90e, 400g of minced beef 3.50e and chicken around 2.50e I would say. Vegetables/fruits are quite cheap though like 1kg of potatos costs like 0.50e, salad around 1.80e and bananas 1.40e/kg. It all depends where you shop of course.
My experience in Finland goes back to the late 1980's, so I hope things have changed since then. I'm a white American, and was teaching English in the town of Pori. However, my wife, who is Japanese, was harassed on the streets on a daily basis, to the point that she didn't want to go out anymore. After that, I transferred to Helsinki, and the harassment stopped, but my wife still had had a lot of negative experiences--probably because the Finns thought she was a "refugee" from South-East Asia and living on their tax-money. Of course, as a white person you could have no way of knowing about this, unless you have friends who are not white. Sorry for the negativity, but that was just our experience.
there's been ALOT change since then. you have to understand, finland was still extremely homogenous in the 80's. there really were almost no people from other cultures (besides from countries like sweden). now foreign people are widely accepted, but there still is significant hatered towards muslims. finns don't like or trust people who don't assimilate. 'when in rome' is expected of foreigners moving to finland.
I think most Finns had never seen a black person for example before early 90s when Somali refugees came. If you live your whole life outside cities you don't ever see non-whites in Finland even today. I guess non-whites aren't that exotic no more in the big cities but they can be outside them. Racism is unacceptable but i can understand how it might form.
Man that is so true even today it is still the same and actually much much more worse the in the 1990´s
519DJM Of course there is rasicm everywhere in the world. I mean look at America. You guys have had black people living in your country for over 200 years now, and they are still oppressed in your country. Rasicm is a hard phenomenom to weed out.
Now, black children get insulted and spit on them in the street. It comes from very few people but there is no one to stop them. A newspaper even revealed that the police in charge of fighting online hate speech was part of a racist Facebook group.
www.hs.fi/sunnuntai/art-2000002602711.html
yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/internet_cop_removed_from_anti-hate_speech_task_force_over_racist_posts_in_police_facebook_group/9652284
You are lovely and beautiful lady. its nice to hear from your advice. Cheers!
Great video Ekaterina.. :) I don't really have a problem with anything you said. I guess you should note there are more finnish speakers than that, also a lot in sweden and norway, and even though 4% of finns are swedish-speaking finns, they also speak finnish.
Is it good place for software engineer ?
Absolutely. I believe there is a big demand for good software engineers!
Oh yeah dude
is education free for everybody even new citizen?
Sagar Shrestha yes, you don’t even have to be a citizen yet, but the law may change in a few years. Go for it while you can
Education is free for the EU citizens and holders of a residence permit A!
I'm studying European and I start to learn at Finland. 🙂
I live in LA and I want to move to Finland so bad.im always stressed about my safety and I have really bad social anxiety.i think it would be therapeutic for me.
I want to ask something from Finnish people is it true that racism is pretty high in Finland especially towards Dark skinned people middle_eastern to be exact...?
•Владимир_ Даргуновский• no. They’re everywhere
Yes very racist in Finland. I have traveled to Sweden and Iceland and the women love us there though.
Their goddamn language is the hardest part
Do You know any language ? More You know - easier IT gets !
Hey lovely video...I want to know how to get jobs in Finland for someone from India . I know ur based in Russia but anything would be really helpful. Roshan Dsouza
If you are outside the EU, it doesn't really matter where you are from. It's gonna be equally challenging to find job opportunities if you don't have a right to live and work in the EU. The easiest way is to get a study place at any local university and then upgrade it to the work one once you find a work place.
i was watching verstehen sie spass how i came there?
U cud have explained better with video of all that u r saying
I can't hear Russian accent in your pronounciation. What's your native language?
The public health care is high quality in Finland, but yes there are queues and waiting time in many specialized treatment, like surgical operations and dental care. This is mainly because the private sector acts like a troublemaker. People don't want to pay taxes, and investors want to make profit from healthcare. The result is politicians supporting public sector buying services from the private sector (thus tax money funds the private sector), and a private sector which doesn't pay taxes. Also, the doctors' association has for decades fought against increasing the numbers of educated for doctors professions, because less professionals means you have to pay higher salaries and buy private sector services: the public sector has for decades been in troubles finding enough people (and in fact have to hire foreigners). The private sector can hire the few professionals, thus driving up wages and increasing length of the public sector queues. It's the private profit interests.
In fact, I think your English pronounciation sounds pretty close to how a Finnish speaker's English sounds. Huh, strange?
Thank you for given such a profound insight about the healthcare situation. It was really interesting to read!
My native language is Russian. Probably I picked some accent from Finnish people after living in Finland for 7 years :)
She has a Russian accent,I say that cuz I dated few Russ girls,she made a really good video tho.spasiba bolshoi katia 😁
I know how you feel, i studied Russian language 650 hours and i thought everyday too that how could one come with a language like this, what was the purpose.. ;)
Noppa how was the result? Was it worth it? :)
Ihana venäläistyttö..
I bought DNA phone pre paid card and my internet 4g didn't work.I went to get money back and they refused
depending on where you live even if you pay for 4g it usually doesn't work indoors outside of the main big cities, etc. I feel you, i just stopped using DNA and went to Elisa, bought 3G for 8 eu a month and the pings are the same as with the 4g DNA prepaid...ridiculous...
The other pro is that you are so beautiful!! Thank you for the informations
You can live for 10 years in Finland as a foreigner without ever a Finn even saying hallo to you or interact with you...
halti is 1324
I think you are on fire!
stocking georgeuos