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Published: 18 February 2021

Number of comprehensive schools continued declining, most closures in North Ostrobothnia

According to Statistics Finland’s register of providers of education and register of educational institutions, there were 691 active providers of education and 3,105 educational institutions in which around 1.79 million students pursued studies at the end of 2020. There were 2,130 active comprehensive schools. Comprehensive schools were closed down most in North Ostrobothnia, in total eight.

Number of comprehensive schools 2011–2020

In 2020, there were 2,130 active comprehensive schools and they had a total of 548,100 pupils. Active special education schools at the comprehensive school level numbered 61 and they had 3,500 pupils. Comprehensive schools were more often than before joint schools comprising grades 1 to 9. In 2011, joint schools numbered 347, while the corresponding figure in 2020 was 471. In ten years, the share of joint schools in all comprehensive schools has grown by eight percentage points. In the corresponding time period, the share of primary schools has decreased by seven percentage points and that of lower secondary schools by three percentage points.

Number of closed down and merged comprehensive schools and special education schools at the comprehensive school level in 2020

A total of 64 comprehensive schools or comprehensive school level special education schools were closed down or merged with another educational institution. Twelve per cent of them were educational institutions with under 20 pupils, 50 per cent had between 20 and 49 pupils while 38 per cent had at least 50 pupils. Most comprehensive schools and special education schools at the comprehensive school level were closed down in North Ostrobothnia, eight in all. The next most closures and mergers were made in Pirkanmaa, North Karelia and Southwest Finland, seven in all of them.

Educational institutions of the school system and numbers of students by type of educational institution in 2020

Type of educational institution	Number	Change from previous year 1)	Students 2)
11 Comprehensive schools	2 130	-60	548 100
12 Comprehensive school level special education schools	61	-2	3 500
15 Upper secondary general schools	335	-1	114 300
19 Comprehensive and upper secondary general level schools	40	-1	28 300
21 Vocational institutes	82	-2	208 700
22 Special needs vocational institutes	5	-	5 600
23 Specialised vocational institutes	18	-1	18 100
24 Vocational adult education centres	10	-	15 000
28 Fire, police and security service institutes	1	-	400
29 Military vocational institutes	6	-	..
41 Universities of applied sciences	24	-1	153 400
42 Universities	13	-	160 400
43 Military academies	1	-	900
61 Music schools and colleges	83	-1	59 200
62 Sports institutes	13	-	13 100
63 Folk high schools	72	-1	16 000
64 Adult education centres	174	-4	405 100
65 Study circle centres	12	-	11 800
66 Summer universities	19	-	22 800
99 Other educational institutions	6	-	400
Total	3 105	-74	1 785 100

1) The exact change is described in the appendix table 1. Changes from the previous year made to educational institutions of the school system by type of educational institution in 2020.
2) The data on the number of students are mainly as on 20 September 2020 and include the number of all students in educational institutions belonging to the type of educational institution independent of the level of education. Data on the number of students at comprehensive schools, universities, universities of applied sciences, vocational institutions and upper secondary institutions is preliminary.

In 2020, the number of providers of education was in total 13 lower than one year earlier. Of the providers of education, 49 per cent were municipalities or joint municipal authorities, four per cent were central government units and 45 per cent private. The remaining two per cent of the providers of education operated in the region of Åland. In 2020, ten new providers of education were added to the Register of Providers of Education. The number of educational institutions was 74 lower than in the year before.

Source: Education Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Mika Witting 029 551 3571, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (245.4 kB)

Tables

Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Changes from previous year made to educational institutions of the school system by type of educational institution 2020 (18.2.2021)

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Updated 18.2.2020