My understanding is that in the offshore islands of Finland, including Åland, a language fairly close to standard Swedish is spoken by over 90 percent of the population.

That is correct. A dialect of Swedish is spoken as a first language in a few pockets along the western shoreline and, most notably, in Åland. Those who speak Swedish as a mother tongue amounts to a mere 4-5% of the population and has been sinking for a good hundred years. Regardless, all junior high school students have second national language — often meaning Swedish — as a compulsory subject. Interestingly, no such rule exists in the autonomous Åland.

This has created hefty amounts of debate. Especially those living near the eastern border feel that Swedish has no relevance to them and the time could be used to study a bigger language, such as French, German or Chinese; English is taken for granted at this point. The opposition counters mostly with historical and sentimental arguments. The subject has been taken all the way to the parliament, but hasn't moved forward for a couple of months.

Thank you for that detailed explanation. ☺

> Alla elever måste lära sig båda de inhemska språken på det finska fastlandet.

Tack!