Sweden joins 114 education systems banning phones in schools: Full list of nations who have banned them already

Sweden will ban mobile phones in schools from the next academic year, joining a rapidly growing list of countries that have decided screens have no place in the classroom. The government has also set aside 555 million Swedish kronor for textbooks and teachers' guides as part of a broader push back towards traditional learning.

Why Sweden is acting now

Officials cited declining reading and writing skills among children and younger teenagers as the primary concern. In schools where phones are already being collected at the door, teachers report fewer distractions and greater student focus during lessons. The nationwide ban formalises what many individual schools have already been doing informally.

Sweden is not alone in this shift. According to UNESCO, 114 education systems now have a national ban on mobile phones in schools.

Where phones are already banned

The move is part of a global pattern that has been building for years. France was among the earliest movers, banning phones for students up to age 15 during the school day in 2018. Italy introduced classroom restrictions as far back as 2007, strengthening them in subsequent years. China prohibited phones in classrooms without permission in 2021.

More recently, the Netherlands banned phones, tablets, and smartwatches from classrooms in 2024. Brazil, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, and Portugal have all introduced national restrictions in 2025. Chile and South Korea are implementing nationwide classroom phone restrictions in 2026, the same year as Sweden. Poland is also planning a ban for students aged seven to fifteen, and Denmark has government backing for a phone-free schools policy.

Some countries are frequently cited in these lists, but the picture is more complex: Spain's restrictions vary by region, Germany's rules differ across states, and Romania and Slovakia have classroom-level limits rather than full school-day bans.

The debate is shifting

The broader trend is clear: governments increasingly view phones as a classroom distraction they want removed, at least for part of the school day. But the rules differ considerably, from classroom-only limits to full school-day prohibitions. The debate is no longer really about whether to restrict phones in schools. It is about how far those restrictions should go.