The results of the School Health Promotion study conducted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) will be published this week, and the City of Helsinki will begin to examine the results closely. Schools will receive their own results from THL in September.
Already at this stage, we have some results from the survey concerning pupils in grades 8 and 9. According to preliminary data, more and more young people in Helsinki feel that their health is fairly or very good. The proportion of 8th and 9th graders who considered their health to be fair or poor was 21%, down from 26% two years earlier.
Girls experience more loneliness
Another positive development, according to the survey, is that fewer and fewer young people in Helsinki feel lonely. 12.4% of 8th and 9th graders felt lonely, whereas the same figure was 15% in 2023 and 17.5% in 2021. Girls experience loneliness more often than boys. The percentage was now 7.5 for boys and 17 for girls.
“It is excellent that the work done has been fruitful and that loneliness has decreased. This is probably due to the fact that we have paid more attention to learning emotional and interaction skills and continuous group building," says Student Services Manager Vesa Nevalainen at the City of Helsinki.
Continued efforts to combat bullying
However, the survey shows that anxiety among young people remains widespread, also in Helsinki. Moderate or severe anxiety was experienced by 10% of boys and 34% of girls in grades 8 and 9. In the previous survey two years earlier, the shares were 9% and 35%.
“As far as bullying is concerned, we can be reasonably satisfied that there has been no further increase in the number of bullying incidents. But there is still a lot of work to be done," Nevalainen says.
Nine per cent of 8th and 9th grade boys and six per cent of girls in Helsinki reported being bullied at least once a week. Every school in the city has an anti-bullying programme in place.
In Helsinki, the level of physical activity among young people has remained more or less the same as in previous years. Of young people in grades 8 and 9, 25.5% did no more than one hour of strenuous physical activity per week in their free time, meaning that more than three quarters of young people are more physically active. In 2023, the share of those only active for one hour was 25%, and in 2021 it was 29%. Boys are more active than girls.
In spring 2025, over 28 000 students in grades 4, 5, 8 and 9 in basic education, as well as 1st and 2nd year students in general upper secondary schools and vocational schools responded to the School Health Promotion study in Helsinki. THL conducts the study every two years.
