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)
Updated 16.12.2013
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: 28.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2013/01/ava_2013_01_2013-12-16_tie_001_en.html