Published: 23 May 2019
Majority of comprehensive school pupils study English
According to Statistics Finland, English was the most commonly studied foreign language in comprehensive schools in the autumn term 2018. Seventy-four per cent of students in grades 1 to 6 studied English. The share of students studying English increased by three percentage points from the previous year in grades 1 to 6. Almost all students in grades 7 to 9 studied English. Nineteen per cent of students in grades 1 to 6 and 92 per cent of students in grades 7 to 9 studied Swedish as a foreign language.
Language choices of comprehensive school pupils in 2018
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 | 256 783 | 16 898 | 14 | . | 273 695 | 74.0 | . |
Swedish | 3 323 | 12 306 | 53 284 | . | 68 913 | 18.6 | . | |
Finnish | 19 015 | 1 151 | 11 | . | 20 177 | 5.5 | . | |
French | 3 402 | 4 191 | 17 | . | 7 610 | 2.1 | . | |
German | 3 282 | 11 313 | 16 | . | 14 611 | 3.9 | . | |
Russian | 1 117 | 1 102 | 0 | . | 2 219 | 0.6 | . | |
Spanish | 832 | 5 932 | 0 | . | 6 764 | 1.8 | . | |
Italian | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | 0 | 0.0 | . | |
Sami | 9 | 236 | 0 | . | 245 | 0.1 | . | |
Other | 442 | 149 | 13 | . | 604 | 0.2 | . | |
Grades 7-9 | English | 166 060 | 12 785 | 206 | 80 | 179 131 | . | 99.5 |
Swedish | 1 651 | 11 432 | 153 400 | 2 | 166 485 | . | 92.5 | |
Finnish | 9 095 | 1 300 | 211 | 2 | 10 608 | . | 5.9 | |
French | 1 614 | 3 490 | 193 | 3 653 | 8 950 | . | 5.0 | |
German | 1 680 | 7 786 | 242 | 8 714 | 18 422 | . | 10.2 | |
Russian | 512 | 1 427 | 0 | 1 726 | 3 665 | . | 2.0 | |
Spanish | 211 | 1 270 | 0 | 3 793 | 5 274 | . | 2.9 | |
Italian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 75 | . | 0.0 | |
Sami | 3 | 49 | 0 | 3 | 55 | . | 0.0 | |
Latin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 429 | 429 | . | 0.2 | |
Other | 167 | 20 | 23 | 42 | 252 | . | 0.1 |
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 5 per cent of the pupils attending grades 7 to 9, mainly as an optional or elective foreign language.
A total of 370,020 pupils attended grades 1 to 6. 189,545 of the pupils were boys and 180,475 were girls. A total of 180,058 pupils attended grades 7 to 9. 92,100 of the pupils were boys and 87,958 were girls.
Source: Education. Statistics Finland
Inquiries: Vesa Hämäläinen 029 551 2594, koulutustilastot@stat.fi
Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma
Publication in pdf-format (213.1 kB)
Updated 23.5.2019
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Subject choices of students [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-1056. Subject choices of comprehensive school pupils 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 11.11.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2018/02/ava_2018_02_2019-05-23_tie_001_en.html