 Swedish is the official national language of both Sweden and Finland ( in Finland besides Finnish language who is the biggest official language of Finland ) . As of 2006 , it was the first or sole native language of 7 @.@ 5 to 8 million Swedish residents . In 2007 around 5 @.@ 5 % ( c . 290 @,@ 000 ) of the population of Finland were native speakers of Swedish , though the percentage has been declining steadily since Finland became part of Russia after the Finnish War 1808 – 1809 . The Finland Swedish minority is concentrated in the coastal areas and archipelagos of southern and western Finland . In some of these areas , Swedish is the predominant language ; in 19 municipalities , 16 of which are located in Åland , Swedish is the sole official language . Åland county is an autonomous region of Finland . 
