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Published: 22 May 2015

Share of comprehensive school pupils studying Russian has increased

According to Statistics Finland, the share of comprehensive school pupils studying Russian on grades 1 to 6 was 0.2 percentage points higher and 0.7 percentage points higher on grades 7 to 9 than in 2013. In 2014, altogether 1.0 per cent of pupils on grades 1 to 6 and 3.1 per cent of pupils on grades 7 to 9 studied Russian.

Language choices of comprehensive school pupils in 2014

  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 220 232 14 110 . . 234 342 66.0 .
Swedish 3 018 13 377 . . 16 395 4.6 .
Finnish 14 430 868 . . 15 298 4.3 .
French 2 902 4 340 . . 7 242 2.0 .
German 3 184 9 982 . . 13 166 3.7 .
Russian 1 124 2 363 . . 3 487 1.0 .
Spanish 401 1 243 . . 1 644 0.5 .
Italian 0 0 . . 0 0.0 .
Sami 3 210 . . 213 0.1 .
Other 392 107 . . 499 0.1 .
Grades 7-9 English 161 617 12 788 181 61 174 647 . 99.4
Swedish 2 039 10 970 148 677 345 162 031 . 92.2
Finnish 8 733 1 426 155 4 10 318 . 5.9
French 1 396 3 732 166 5 093 10 387 . 5.9
German 1 620 7 659 483 7 924 17 686 . 10.1
Russian 543 943 . 3 915 5 401 . 3.1
Spanish 37 829 . 2 700 3 566 . 2.0
Italian 0 0 . 194 194 . 0.1
Sami 0 52 . 1 53 . 0.0
Latin 0 0 . 383 383 . 0.2
Other 113 4 . 28 145 . 0.1

English was the most commonly studied foreign language on grades 1 to 6 of comprehensive school in the autumn semester of 2014. Sixty-six 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 five per cent or below.

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 10 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 355,139 pupils attended grades 1 to 6. 181,942 of the pupils were boys and 173,197 were girls. A total of 175,686 pupils attended grades 7 to 9. 90,011 of the pupils were boys and 85,675 were girls.

Data on the language choices of students studying comprehensive education elsewhere than at comprehensive schools (1,564) are published in the database table of these statistics.


Source: Education. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Vesa Hämäläinen 029 551 2594, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

Publication in pdf-format (214.1 kB)

Tables

Appendix tables


Updated 22.5.2015

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Subject choices of students [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-1056. Subject choices of comprehensive school pupils 2014. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 29.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2014/02/ava_2014_02_2015-05-22_tie_001_en.html