COVID-19 epidemic poses greater impact on immigrants: Finnish health authority

HELSINKI - The COVID-19 epidemic posed a greater impact on immigrants than the rest of the population in Finland, said the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Tuesday.

According to a recent study conducted by THL, the COVID-19 crisis caused more problems for immigrants than the wider population in Finland as a whole, as people in the immigrant community reported sleep disorders, an increased sense of loneliness and isolation, as well as decreased hopes for the future.

Those who moved to the country also felt their health and quality of life were poorer, and they experienced more mental strain than the entire population.

The study found that immigrants in the country have suffered more financial difficulties.

Some 25 percent of the respondents of the study said that their economic situation had deteriorated during the epidemic, compared to a corresponding figure of just six percent for the rest of the population.

Natalia Skogberg, research manager at THL, said in a press release released on Tuesday that this is a worrying observation, considering that the economic situation of immigrants has often been worse than average for the entire population even before the corona epidemic.

Around 38 percent of immigrants reported that their hopes for the future had decreased as a result of the epidemic and its effects, compared to 30 percent of the general population.

Furthermore, about 15 percent of those who migrated to Finland said that they experienced discrimination during the epidemic.