Published: 14 December 2010
Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education in 2010
According to Statistics Finland, nearly all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus in 2010 had studied English, and Finnish or Swedish during their attendance of upper secondary general school. German had been studied by 26 per cent, French by 17 per cent, Spanish by 14 per cent and Russian by seven per cent of the completers of upper secondary general school education. The proportions of those having studied other, more unusual 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 2010
| 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 | 30 497 | 29 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 30 542 | 99.1 |
| Swedish | 2 524 | 25 475 | 3 | 5 | 48 | 28 055 | 91.0 |
| Finnish | 2 045 | 50 | 16 | 21 | 1 | 2 133 | 6.9 |
| French | 634 | 35 | 915 | 1 334 | 2 445 | 5 363 | 17.4 |
| German | 1 804 | 7 | 1 485 | 1 608 | 3 032 | 7 936 | 25.7 |
| Russian | 171 | 5 | 46 | 613 | 1 191 | 2 026 | 6.6 |
| Sami | 3 | - | 4 | 3 | 15 | 25 | 0.1 |
| Latin | 0 | - | 23 | 86 | 440 | 549 | 1.8 |
| Spanish | 11 | - | 56 | 1 510 | 2 671 | 4 248 | 13.8 |
| Italian | 0 | - | 15 | 246 | 826 | 1 087 | 3.5 |
| Other | 0 | - | 1 | 18 | 310 | 329 | 1.1 |
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 30,829 students completed the full upper secondary general school syllabus in spring 2010. 12,948 of the completers were men and 17,881 were women.
In spring 2010, 43 per cent of all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus - 36 per cent of female students and 53 per cent of male students - had taken the long syllabus in mathematics.
Source: Education 2010. 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)
Updated 14.12.2010
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Subject choices of students [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-1056. Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education 2010. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2010/01/ava_2010_01_2010-12-14_tie_001_en.html