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Published: 14 December 2011

Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education in 2011

According to Statistics Finland, nearly all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus in 2011 had studied English, and Finnish or Swedish during their attendance of upper secondary general school. German had been studied by 25 per cent, French by 17 per cent, Spanish by 16 per cent and Russian by seven per cent of the completers of upper secondary general school education. The proportions of those having studied other foreign languages remained at four per cent or below. They also vary considerably between genders in several languages.

Language choices of completers of full upper secondary general school syllabus 2011

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 30 591 19 1 5 5 30 621 99.6
Swedish 2 536 25 636 0 11 157 28 340 92.2
Finnish 1 983 27 0 34 11 2 055 6.7
French 584 19 874 1 147 2 517 5 141 16.7
German 1 637 28 1 404 1 503 3 060 7 632 24.8
Russian 172 0 50 612 1 388 2 222 7.2
Sami 2 - 1 1 6 10 0.0
Latin 0 - 11 57 426 494 1.6
Spanish 52 - 76 1 653 3 048 4 829 15.7
Italian 0 - 2 192 868 1 062 3.5
Other 0 0 0 3 394 397 1.3

The completers of upper secondary general school studies had mainly taken English, Swedish or Finnish as a compulsory language subject. German, French, Spanish, Russian and other foreign languages had been mainly studied as an elective language. A total of 30,751 students completed the full upper secondary general school syllabus in spring 2011. 13,048 of the completers were men and 17,703 were women.

In spring 2011, 41 per cent of all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus - 34 per cent of female students and 52 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: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (225.2 kB)

Tables

Appendix tables


Updated 14.12.2011

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 2011. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2011/01/ava_2011_01_2011-12-14_tie_001_en.html