'RAINBOW CHILD'
Who is Sanna Marin and who’s her husband Markus Räikkönen?
SANNA Marin has been Finland's Prime Minister on December 8, 2019.
The 36-year-old is the world's youngest serving premier.
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Who is Sanna Marin?
Sanna Mirella Marin was born on November 16, 1986, in Helsinki.
She grew up in a rented apartment with her single mum who was in a same-sex relationship.
Ms Marin told the in 2015 that as a child she felt "invisible" because she couldn't talk about her family.
But she said her mum was always supportive and made her believe she could do anything she wanted.
She attended Tampere University, and is the first person in her family to have graduated.
She is seen as a politician who will appeal to the younger generation, because of her candid use of Instagram.
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What is her background?
Ms Marin is a Social Democrat MP for Finland, and has been since 2015.
After she graduated, she had a swift rise in Finnish politics, soon heading her city council of Tamper at the age of 27.
In June 2019, she was elected the transport and communications minister.
Despite her diverse family background, she told the Finnish broadcaster YLE: "I myself have never thought about my age or my gender, but rather about the issues for which I took on politics and about the reasons for which we were trusted in the elections".
Who is her husband Markus Räikkönen?
In August 2020, Marin and Räikkönen, who works in communications, married at the prime minister's official residence, Kesäranta.
Their permanently live in the Kaleva district of Tampere, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have resided at Kesäranta.
She has said that, if she had the choice, she would move to the countryside.
What changes has Sanna Marin made?
Ms Marin leads a coalition government and cabinet dominated by women, and is hailed as an icon of progressive ideas, inclusivity and feminism.
Marin is prioritising equality.
She wants to close the pay gap (Finnish women earn €0.83¢ for every €1 men earn).
Launched in August 2022, a new parental system will persuade men to take their fair share of parental leave - as leave will increase from 54 to 97 days.
She has also made education compulsory until the age of 18 and is committed to ending homelessness.
Finland now ranks second in the world behind Iceland in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, 2021.
She has set out goals to make the country carbon neutral by 2035, and if successful, Finland would be one of the first countries in the world to achieve net-zero emissions.
Marin has received relatively high marks for her handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Roughly 5.5 million people live in the country, and it has reported just under 1,400 Covid-19 fatalities, one of the lowest per capita death rates in the world.
Infections, however, have been trending upward in in December 2021, including a handful of Omicron cases.
Marin, who has spoken about growing up in a disadvantaged family, is a left-winger within her party and a strong defender of Finland's generous welfare state.
Does Sanna Marin have any children?
In January 2018, Marin and her partner, Markus Räikkönen, had a daughter, Emma.
She once shared a photo of herself breastfeeding her baby on Instagram.
She captioned the photo: "This week, the little one has mostly eaten, that is, without interruption.
"It means that our family barely sleeps. One night I got to sleep while my baby and dad were staying with my mom for the night."
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