Need for interpreting in emergency calls increases significantly

Growth in the foreign-language population in Finland is reflected in the interpretation of emergency calls – calls were interpreted in 41 different languages last year. Most often, an emergency call requiring interpretation was made in Russian, Ukrainian or Arabic.

According to Statistics Finland, 610,148 foreign-language speakers lived in Finland at the end of 2024, accounting for 10.8 per cent of the total population. According to Quality Manager Emma Paasonen from the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the growth in the foreign-language population is reflected in the number of interpreted emergency calls.

“The number of interpreted emergency calls increased in 2020–2025 from 212 calls to 1,844 calls, which is a staggering growth of 770 per cent. However, the number of interpreted emergency calls remains very low in relation to the total number of emergency calls.” 

Number of languages interpreted continues to grow

In 2025, emergency calls were interpreted 1,844 times, whereas in 2024 the number was approximately 25% lower (1,469).  Interpretation was provided in a total of 41 languages (37 languages in 2024). Most of the interpreted foreign-language calls were made in Russian (710), Ukrainian (594) and Arabic (214).
According to Paasonen, growth has increased since 2022, when the need for Ukrainian interpretation, in particular, grew.

“The need for interpreting emergency calls made in Ukrainian emerged in 2022 and continued for the following years, which partly reflects the consequences of the war and the increase in the number of Ukrainians arriving in Finland.” 

In 2025, interpretation was provided in a total of 41 languages, compared to 15 in 2020. Last year, the list included a few new languages, such as Hindi, Nepali and Greek. Other less common languages included Ikinyarwanda, Badini, Kurmanji and Urdu.

The interpreting service is an additional service purchased by the Emergency Response Centre Agency to support the processing of emergency calls and has been available to the Emergency Response Centre Agency since 2013. The interpretation service aims to enable emergency response centre services for all, regardless of their language skills. 

Edit 10.3.2026 9:22 am: The link to the article has been corrected.