Published: 25 May 2010
Language choices of comprehensive school pupils in 2009
According to Statistics Finland, English was the most commonly studied foreign language on grades 1 to 6 of comprehensive school in the autumn semester of 2009. Sixty-eight per cent of the pupils attending grades 1 to 6 studied English either as a compulsory or optional foreign language. The percentages of pupils studying other foreign languages remained at 5 per cent or below. A total of 347,060 pupils attended grades 1 to 6. 177 888 of the pupils were boys and 169 172 were girls. Nearly all pupils attending grades 7 to 9 studied both English and Swedish or Finnish either as mother tongue, or as a compulsory, optional or elective foreign language. German was studied by 11 per cent and French by 6 per cent of the pupils attending grades 7 to 9, mainly as an optional or elective foreign language. A total of 191,684 pupils attended grades 7 to 9. 97 957 of the pupils were boys and 93 727 were girls.
Language choices of comprehensive school pupils in 2009
Compulsory language A1 | Optional language A2 | Compulsory language B1 | Elective language B2 | Total | Share of pupils in grades 1-6 % | Share of pupils in grades 7-9 % | ||
Grades | Studied language | |||||||
Grades 1-6 | English | 221 473 | 13 214 | . | . | 234 687 | 67.6 | . |
Swedish | 2 907 | 12 921 | . | . | 15 828 | 4.6 | . | |
Finnish | 14 164 | 1 127 | . | . | 15 291 | 4.4 | . | |
French | 2 075 | 4 298 | . | . | 6 373 | 1.8 | . | |
German | 3 113 | 9 633 | . | . | 12 746 | 3.7 | . | |
Russian | 755 | 828 | . | . | 1 583 | 0.5 | . | |
Sami | 1 | 235 | . | . | 236 | 0.1 | . | |
Other | 252 | 436 | . | . | 688 | 0.2 | . | |
Grades 7-9 | English | 174 252 | 15 569 | 333 | 75 | 190 229 | . | 99.2 |
Swedish | 2 239 | 12 393 | 161 550 | 8 | 176 190 | . | 91.9 | |
Finnish | 10 447 | 1 032 | 200 | 2 | 11 681 | . | 6.1 | |
French | 1 401 | 3 981 | 277 | 5 756 | 11 415 | . | 6.0 | |
German | 2 103 | 10 304 | 350 | 8 760 | 21 517 | . | 11.2 | |
Russian | 490 | 258 | . | 1 515 | 2 263 | . | 1.2 | |
Sami | 4 | 35 | . | 12 | 51 | . | 0.0 | |
Latin | 0 | 0 | . | 631 | 631 | . | 0.3 | |
Other | 30 | 360 | . | 1 857 | 2 247 | . | 1.2 |
Source: Education 2009. Statistics Finland
Inquiries: Irma Suovirta (09) 1734 3280, Maija Sikanen (09) 1734 2292, koulutustilastot@stat.fi
Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma
Publication in pdf-format (193.9 kB)
Updated 25.5.2010
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Subject choices of students [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-1056. Subject choices of comprehensive school pupils 2009. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 10.11.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2009/02/ava_2009_02_2010-05-25_tie_001_en.html