EAA member Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing, reports impressive results from a national School Survey by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The survey shows angling is a favourite hobby among schoolchildren and Finnish youth, particularly boys. More importantly, this year, angling was included as an independent hobby for the first time.
1.Finnish survey issued by Government underlines the rising popularity of angling as outdoor hobby among youngsters!
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has recently published the results from its national School Survey (2024). In this survey, Finnish schoolchildren (primary and secondary education) were asked about their preferred hobbies, the hobbies they would like to try, and how they balance their hobbies. This year, angling was included in the survey for the first time as an independent hobby, and the results indicate its popularity, particularly among boys.
The school survey is part of the implementation of the Finnish model for leisure activities and has been organised for the sixth time.
More than 112,000 primary and secondary school pupils from 1,300 schools responded to the school survey. The results from it show that angling sees a huge increase in popularity among Finnish youth as:
- In the desired hobbies of boys in grades 4–6 (10-12y), angling was selected in 2nd place (26%)
- In the desired hobbies of boys in grades 1–3 (7-9y), angling was in 4th place (26%)
- Fishing was the 3rd most popular hobby among boys in secondary school (17%) (13-15y)
- Taking all responses into account, angling ranked 18th as preferred hobby by Finnish youth (25%)
Olli Saari, Executive Director of EAA member Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing, sees the results as an excellent indication of the popularity of angling among young people. "It's great that fishing is a dream hobby for so many schoolchildren. Now we have an even greater need and opportunity to develop angling as a hobby that is accessible and versatile for young people," Saari says.
EAA's Finnish member argues that the increase in the popularity of angling has also been significantly influenced by the volunteer work done by fishing clubs. Their angling clubs organise numerous camps, competitions and events all year round where children and young people can get to know angling in a safe and inspiring way.
A major challenge for EAA Finnish member – SVK/FFRF – is to further encourage also young women/girls to take up angling as beloved outdoor hobby. In this context, SVK/FFRF has established since 2021 the Mimmit Kalastaa project (freely translated as “Gals Fishing”). More information on this very cool project
here.
(c) Janne Rautanen
2.Finnish school system actively promotes the uptake of hobbies by its youth.
The survey has been elaborated in the framework of the Finnish model for leisure activities. The aim of this is to support the well-being of children and young people by enabling every child and young person to have a pleasant and free hobby in connection with the school day.
Also, the Finnish government aims to establish the Finnish model for leisure activities as a permanent practice in municipalities. With this framework, The Ministry of Education and Culture's supports municipalities with over EUR 14 million per year and can be used by 258 municipalities. With it, 143,000 primary and secondary school pupils are involved in the model's hobbies.
Given the rising popularity of angling, the governmental backing of organised hobby activities linked to school, angling has a major potential of truly becoming an even more beloved outdoor activity!
(c) Janne Rautanen
3. More information
4. Other interesting Youth programmes by EAA members