Finnish Foreign Ministry handles 541 deaths abroad in 2023

The Unit for Consular Assistance at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs was involved in managing 541 cases of death abroad in 2023, said the ministry in a press release on Friday.

There were 51 victims of crime abroad, 214 requests for assistance due to an illness and 112 arrests or detainments.

The latter number does not include detainments in the Nordic countries, as those cases are handled through direct contact between the countries’ authorities.

In 2023, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the missions abroad provided consular services to about 244,000 clients.

The demand for advisory services remained high. Over the course of the year, the Ministry’s round the clock (24/7) service was contacted around 8,000 times in total.

As in previous years, the number of requests for assistance was highest in the countries where Finns are most likely to travel: Spain, Estonia, Germany, Thailand and Sweden.

In 2023, Finnish missions around the world issued 20,369 new passports and 4,538 identity cards. The corresponding figures in 2022 were 23,297 and 4,373, respectively.

The biggest single consular crisis of the year arose when Hamas launched its attack on Israel at the beginning of October. Nearly 200 Finns were assisted in leaving Israel and the Palestinian territories following the attack.

Most Finns left the area on a repatriation flight organised by Finland. In addition, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs assisted people eligible for consular assistance in leaving Gaza for Egypt. The evacuations also involved cooperation with Sweden and other EU Member States.

Last year saw almost a hundred natural or man-made crises and emergencies of significance from the perspective of protecting Finnish travellers.

The year was especially marked by internal conflicts and unrest, for example in Sudan, where the Ministry took part in a major international evacuation operation. In addition to these, natural disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions kept the Ministry for Foreign Affairs busy.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs publishes travel advisories for more than 150 countries, and they remain the most read content on the Ministry’s external website. In 2023, readers were most interested in the advisories for Spain, Greece, Italy and Thailand. Readers are also interested in travel advisories for countries in crisis.