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Published: 16 December 2013

Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education in 2013

According to Statistics Finland, nearly all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus in 2013 had studied English, and Finnish or Swedish during their attendance of upper secondary general school. German had been studied by 23 per cent, Spanish and French by 16.5 per cent and Russian by 8 per cent of the completers of upper secondary general school education. The proportions of those having studied other foreign languages remained at three per cent or below. They also vary considerably between genders in several languages.

Language choices of completers of full upper secondary general school syllabus 2013

Studied language Compulsory A-languages Compulsory language B1 Elective language B2, at least six courses Elective language B3, at least six courses Elective language, fewer than six courses Total Share of completers of full upper secondary general school syllabus, %
English 30 099 46 3 0 1 30 149 99.7
Swedish 2 285 25 395 0 7 32 27 719 91.7
Finnish 2 040 49 0 57 7 2 153 7.1
French 565 22 777 1 159 2 445 4 968 16.4
German 1 303 15 1 216 1 298 3 129 6 961 23.0
Russian 235 4 87 654 1 435 2 415 8.0
Sami 1 - 0 3 5 9 0.0
Latin 0 - 14 62 389 465 1.5
Spanish 16 - 99 1 706 3 209 5 030 16.6
Italian 1 - 2 206 708 917 3.0
Other 0 0 17 6 460 483 1.6

The completers of upper secondary general school studies had mainly taken English, Swedish or Finnish as a compulsory language subject. German, Spanish, French, Russian and other foreign languages had been mainly studied as an elective language. A total of 30,231 students completed the full upper secondary general school syllabus in spring 2013. 12,855 of the completers were men and 17,376 were women.

In spring 2013, 40 per cent of all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus - 33 per cent of female students and 50 per cent of male students - had taken the long syllabus in mathematics.


Source: Education. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Irma Suovirta 09 1734 3280, Maija Sikanen 09 1734 2292, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

Publication in pdf-format (224.2 kB)

Tables

Appendix tables


Updated 16.12.2013

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Subject choices of students [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-1056. Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education 2013. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2013/01/ava_2013_01_2013-12-16_tie_001_en.html