Countries You Wouldn’t Expect to Have Significant Communities from African Nations

I recently watched a YouTube video about a Nigerian man who moved to the coldest town in the world, Yakutsk, in the far reaches of Siberia. The temperature in Yakutia can reach as low as -71 degrees Celsius, yet Mark Oladipo Babtunde decided he wanted to call Yakutsk home after meeting his now wife and forming a tight knit group of friends. It made me think about the variety of African people spread across the world through migration, more specifically, which other unexpected parts of the world have communities from African nations.

Sweden

Many people think of Scandinavia as completely blond haired and blue eyed, with little to no diversity, but it actually boasts a strong population of Somalis, Eritreans and Ethiopians. As of 2023, 250,881 Swedish residents were born in Africa, making up 2.3% of the total population. Most Afro-Swedes left the continent due to civil war and political unrest, including a sizeable amount of Somalis who arrived in Sweden after 2006. Cities including Gothenburg, Stockholm and Malmö have the largest African communities, and notable examples of Afro-Swedes include the current Minister of Culture and Democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke, former Minister for Integration and Gender Equality Nyamko Sabuni, and Premier League record signing Alexander Isak.

Netherlands

60% of black people from the Netherlands are of Afro-Caribbean, mainly Surinamese or Curaçaoan; however, there is also a notable Sub-Saharan African population, with large Somali, South African and Ghanaian populations. These communities can be explained by the Dutch colonisation of South Africa lasted 150 years, and the Dutch imperial control of Ghana for nearly 300 years, before ceding it to the British in 1872. Rotterdam has a large Cape Verdean community, alongside Amsterdam and Utrecht, which have other large Sub-Saharan African communities. Notable famous Afro-Dutch people include Olympic Bobsledder Akwasi Frimpong, and record goal scorer for the Dutch National Team, Memphis Depay.

Germany

Germany doesn’t collect ethnicity data in its national statistics, but migration reports from the Black German initiative estimate over 1 million Germans are of African descent, or 1.5% of the population. Ironically, in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, the top 3 cities with African communities, there aren’t large communities from former German colonies. Berlin and Hamburg’s 2 largest communities are Nigerian and Ghanaian, and the majority of Africans in Cologne are Moroccan and Nigerian. Notable Afro-Germans include state politicians Aminate Touré and Joe Chialo, actor Charles Huber and former Champions League winner Serge Gnabry.

Finland

With a population of just over 5 million, Finland is not a large country, nor has it ever participated in any colonisation of Africa. Despite this, 1.5% of its population is Afro-Finnish, the largest numbers being Somali, Nigerian and Congolese. The Afro-Finnish population has grown rapidly since the 90s, with an 18,000 increase since 2020, 5,000 of whom came in the last year. African migration to Finland also became highly publicised when the Sierra Leone under-17 national team defected to hosts Finland during the 2003 under-17s FIFA World Cup. Notable Afro-Finns include comedian Fathi Ahmed, politician Zahra Abdulla, and the current president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohammed Abdullahi.

Migration is a positive concept; the fusion of cultures and customs helps humans from around the world get to know one another, and it will continue to grow because of globalisation. Learning about African communities in these nations was a pleasant surprise and goes to show that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.