Education statistics. Pupils in primary and lower secondary school. Preliminary figures, 1 October 2009

Continued reduction of schools

By 1. October 2009, there were 3 000 primary and lower secondary schools in Norway, 62 less than in the preceding school year.

The main reason for the reduction in number of schools is that far fewer new schools are started compared to the number of schools that are closed down. Small schools with less than 100 pupils, owned by the municipalities, are the ones that typically get shut down. Even though the pace of shutting down small schools has increased, there are still a significant number of small schools in use. About one third of all schools have less than 100 registered pupils.

Fewer pupils in primary schools

There were 614 000 pupils in primary and lower secondary schools by 1. October 2009. Nationally, the number of pupils has been stable the last school year, although there was a small decrease of pupils at primary schools and a corresponding increase of pupils at lower secondary schools.

Enhanced computer access

Since 2005, the number of pupils per computer with Internet has almost been halved - from 6.3 to 3.4.

Tables

• Table 1 Primary and lower secondary schools. Pupils in primary and lower secondary school. School years 1980/81 - 2009/10
• Table 2 Pupils in primary and lower secondary school, by county. Preliminary figures, 1 October 2009
• Table 3 Primary and lower secondary pupils and primary and lower secondary schools, by ownership. School years 1985/86-2009/10
• Table 4 Schools and pupils by school size. School years 2003/04-2009/10. Per cent
• Table 5 Pupils with native language training, bilingual education and additional training in Norwegian, by county. Preliminary figures, 1 October 2009
• Table 6 Pupils with native language training and additional training in Norwegian. School years 1995/96-2009/10
• Table 7 Pupils, by official form of Norwegian and county. Preliminary figures, 1 October 2009
• Table 8 Pupils per computer connected to the Internet, by county. School years 2005/06 - 2009/10

Published 11 December 2009 © Statistics Norway