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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/nordic-nations-face-educational-decline-in-pisa-2023-report/

The Nordics

Nordic nations face educational decline in Pisa 2023 report

Published December 9, 2023 – By Editorial staff
School results are falling sharply in the latest PISA survey.
4 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Pisa 2023 report indicates a decline in educational outcomes across Nordic countries, with Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark all reporting lower results in mathematics and reading comprehension compared to previous years.

This downturn is seen as part of a broader trend, where the impact of the pandemic on education is highlighted as a significant factor. Despite this decline, several of these countries still remain above the OECD average in their performances.

The latest PISA 2023 report, recently published by Skolverket, the Swedish National Agency for Education, shows that students in Sweden are now performing at the same level as a decade ago. The results in mathematics and reading comprehension have worsened, and the international comparison also shows that only a handful of countries have managed to improve their results.

Between 2018 and 2022, Sweden has lost 21 points in mathematics and is now ranked 18th, compared to 12th in the previous survey. Reading comprehension has suffered a drop of 19 points, with Sweden now in 14th place, compared to 7th place previously.

Neighboring countries lose out

Norway's results in mathematics have never been so low since the country began participating in the survey in 2003, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported. According to the report, almost one in three students is at the lowest level of knowledge in mathematics. Reading comprehension is also low, but at about the same level as last year.

Since the peak year of 2006, Finnish students' math skills have been gradually declining. According to the survey, the reading comprehension of one in five Finnish students has also deteriorated. In the past, Finnish-speaking students were at a higher level than Finnish-Swedish students, but this seems to have changed. For the first time, Finnish-Swedish students outperform Finnish-speaking students in math, reports Finnish state broadcaster Yle. In reading and writing, the two groups are now at the same level.

Denmark has lost ground in both reading and math. Girls' results have deteriorated more than boys', reports the Danish-Swedish newspaper News Øresund. Denmark is the only Nordic country where boys outperform girls in math and science.

Science results have also deteriorated, with Finland and Denmark performing at a higher level and Norway and Iceland at a lower level compared to Sweden.

"The pandemic effect"

Despite the downward trend, students in Sweden are still above the OECD average. Peter Fredriksson, director general of the Swedish National Agency for Education, notes that Sweden is now in the middle of the pack, and points out that Finland, which has traditionally ranked higher, is now at the same level as Sweden.

– The Pisa study is the third international measure of knowledge this year to show deteriorating results in Sweden. The pattern is similar in most other countries. A large part of the participating students' time in secondary school has been marked by the pandemic, with high levels of absenteeism and distance learning. This indicates a 'pandemic effect', says Peter Fredriksson, director general of the National Agency for Education, in a press release.

The Swedish National Agency for Education identifies the impact of the so-called pandemic as the main reason for the poor results, with distance learning and absenteeism seen as possible causes of the general decline.

The fact that the large influx of immigrants over the past 30-40 years has affected the results of Swedish schools is not new in itself. However, it is something that the Swedish National Agency for Education tries to gloss over as an explanatory model.

"No. If immigration is not taken into account, Swedish students still perform well and are in the top tier. When compared with PISA 2022 and the beginning of the 2000s, Sweden has improved its results. If you consider students with at least one parent born in the country, Sweden is in the top five compared to 11th place when you include all students", comments a user on Twitter/X.

"Wait and see"

The Swedish National Agency for Education stresses that while the results are worrying for the Swedish school system, it is too early to consider the figures as a long-term trend, and hopes for a recovery when "influencing factors stabilize".

Peter Fredriksson emphasizes that the results should not be seen as a negative break in the trend.

- We will have to wait and see whether this is a temporary downturn due to the pandemic, he concludes.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

PISA stands for Programme for International Student Assessment. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has overall responsibility for the PISA measurements.

PISA is conducted every three years, which should have taken place in 2021, but due to the pandemic it was postponed to 2022. The results of PISA 2022 will be presented globally and nationally on Tuesday 5 December. PISA measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in three areas: reading, mathematics and science. In PISA 2022, mathematics is the main subject.

The students who completed PISA 2022 were born in 2006, so most are now in their second year of secondary school. 81 countries/regions have participated in the latest PISA in Europe and globally.

Source: TT

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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/swedish-public-health-agency-wants-to-classify-red-fly-agaric-as-narcotics/

Sweden

Swedish Public Health Agency wants to classify red fly agaric as narcotics

Published yesterday 11:44 am – By Editorial staff
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Products containing muscimol from fly agaric mushrooms have become increasingly popular and are often sold as natural medicine. Now the Swedish Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) wants the government to stop the trade by classifying the substance as narcotics.

The fly agaric has long been regarded as a symbol of poisonous mushrooms, but it is not quite as toxic as the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) – which is deadly. Historically, the fly agaric is said to have been used by Siberian shamans, among others, to alter their state of consciousness in order to establish contact with the spirit world in rituals.

In Sweden during the 1800s, people hardly ate any mushrooms at all, but the fly agaric was still considered useful as it was used as an insecticide against flies, from which it also got its name. When food became scarce for Swedes, authorities tried to encourage more mushroom consumption, which briefly led to a group of mushroom enthusiasts claiming that the fly agaric was edible, something that Populär Historia has written about. During the 1970s, the mushroom began to acquire its bad reputation after new knowledge about mushroom species began to take shape.

Poses a risk

Muscimol is a psychoactive substance that can produce sedative and hallucinogenic effects, and today the substance is often promoted by so-called alternative health groups as a remedy for sleep disorders, among other things. So-called retreats are even organized where participants ingest the mushroom in ceremonial settings.

Now the Swedish Public Health Agency wants to classify the substance as narcotics. According to the agency, the substance is currently available for purchase as candy and in e-cigarettes through various online stores, and they emphasize that the mushroom is poisonous and that people are exposing themselves to risk. In addition to relatively common symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, and hallucinations, there are reports of people falling into comas after taking the preparation.

— It has properties that pose a danger to people's lives and health and which can be assumed to be used for the purpose of achieving intoxication, said Adli Assali, head of unit at the Swedish Public Health Agency, to P3 Nyheter.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned trade in muscimol at the end of last year. This summer, the Swedish Public Health Agency initiated its own investigation following a request from the Swedish Customs Service (Tullverket), which had seized the substance at border controls. The Swedish government will now decide whether the substance should be classified as narcotics in Sweden.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/norway/more-children-born-in-norway-for-second-consecutive-year/

Norway

More children born in Norway for second consecutive year

Published November 12, 2025 – By Editorial staff
1 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Birth rates in Norway are rising for the second consecutive year after reaching a historic low in 2022, according to new statistics from the Medical Birth Registry. Despite the increase, too few children are still being born.

Last year, 54,472 children were born in Norway, representing an increase of 3.6 percent compared to the previous year. This stands in stark contrast to 2022, when the country had the lowest number of births in many decades.

— Whether this is a trend, we are uncertain, but more children are being born now than in previous years, says senior physician Liv Cecilie Vestrheim Thomsen at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

Larger birth cohorts reaching parenting age

Thomsen points to a demographic explanation. Around 40 years ago, birth cohorts in Norway were small, but those born in the late 1980s and into the 1990s were significantly larger. It is this generation that is now at the age when many choose to start families.

— It may be that they have now decided to have children, says Thomsen.

Despite the increase, only 1.44 children are born per woman in Norway. For the population to replace itself, approximately 2.1 children per woman are required. The average age for first-time mothers is now almost 32 years.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/swedish-prison-service-opposes-plan-to-lower-criminal-age-to-13/

Sweden

Swedish Prison Service opposes plan to lower criminal age to 13

Published November 12, 2025 – By Editorial staff
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish government's proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13 is facing strong criticism. In its consultation response, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården) states that it is not equipped to receive such young children in prison and that they should be cared for in other ways.

By July 1 next year, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service is expected to have built prison units for children where both 15–17-year-olds and 13–14-year-olds convicted of serious crimes will serve sentences. At the same time, places at the special youth homes (SiS homes, state-run institutions for youth care) will be phased out.

In the consultation response, the Prison and Probation Service writes that imprisonment at a young age can lead to negative consequences, and that children "as young as 13 should be cared for in other ways".

— These concerns become more significant the younger the children in question are, says Elisabeth Lager, acting legal director, to TT.

The Prison and Probation Service is clear that the organization does not have the required resources. It lacks both the expertise and suitable facilities to handle children as young as 13 within prisons, detention centers, or community-based sanctions such as probation. Practical issues such as education must also be addressed. At the same time, it is noted that the level of the age of criminal responsibility is ultimately a political matter.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer writes that the government will "carefully analyze all consultation responses". He emphasizes that society must "care for children in a completely different way than today" in cases of the most serious crimes, both to protect victims and society, but also the children themselves.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/finland/finlands-former-president-europe-should-speak-directly-with-putin/

Finland

Finland’s former president: Europe should speak directly with Putin

Published November 11, 2025 – By Editorial staff
Finnish former President Sauli Niinistö believes that Europe must remain European.
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Finland's former president Sauli Niinistö believes that European leaders should engage in direct talks with Moscow instead of relying solely on information from Donald Trump. He also warns that Europe is losing its role as a global power.

Niinistö criticizes the current situation where European countries lack direct contact with Russian leaders, while US President Donald Trump negotiates with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine's future. Niinistö argues that Europe should instead initiate direct talks with Russia to influence the outcome of the war.

— French President Emmanuel Macron is likely the last one to have called, and before that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about a year ago. And he was criticized for it, Niinistö told Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

He defended Scholz's decision to contact the Kremlin and describes the current situation as absurd.

— I defended him and still think that it is in a way an absurd situation that Europeans say they won't talk to the war criminal Putin. But Trump does it, and then we go and hear what they talked about, he explained.

Niinistö points out the paradox that Europeans are simultaneously worried that Putin and Trump will discuss Europe's future over the heads of the European countries themselves.

Europe has lost its global position

Furthermore, Niinistö notes that Europe's significance has decreased markedly during the 21st century. Today, it is primarily the US, China, and Russia that make the decisive decisions on the global stage.

When Finland joined the EU in the 1990s, the union was a voice that the world listened to. The situation was similar even after the turn of the millennium. Now, however, Europe has disappeared from the power quadrangle, according to Niinistö. He particularly points to how the US and China compete economically and divide the world between them in what he describes as a struggle for nations' loyalty.

— Europe must keep Europe European and must absolutely not submit to becoming an object of division, so that someone belongs to one camp and someone else to another, he says.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com