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Digest of Education Statistics
2010 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 406. Percentage of population enrolled in secondary and postsecondary education, by age group and country: Selected years, 1985 through 2007
Country Secondary education, 2007 Postsecondary education (total tertiary education)
16 years old 17 years old 18 to 21 years old 18 to 21 years old 22 to 25 years old 26 to 29 years old
Total 18 years old 19 years old 20 years old 21 years old
1985 1990 1999 2005 2007 1985 1990 1999 2005 2007 1985 1990 1999 2005 2007
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
OECD average1  91 83 25 53 27 14 9 25 29 28 18 22 23 8 9 9
Australia 93 79 25 38 25 20 17 31 34 34 15 21 22 8 10 10
Austria 91 76 19 46 19 8 4 15 16 17 20 20 22 12 9 11
Belgium 102 100 23 47 23 13 10 25 42 43 43 7 15 19 19 2 3 6 6
Canada 27 22 18 15 7 5
Chile 91 86 12 31 10 3 2 29 21 8
                                             
Czech Republic 100 96 32 82 37 7 3 (2) (2) 17 23 24 (2) (2) 12 21 24 (2) (2) 4 6 7
Denmark 91 84 49 80 57 34 24 7 7 8 10 11 16 18 27 34 34 8 9 15 20 20
Finland 96 95 40 93 33 17 16 9 14 23 24 23 17 21 35 40 39 8 10 18 20 21
France 95 88 22 49 24 10 4 19 25 35 36 36 10 12 20 20 19 4 4 5 5 5
Germany3  95 91 39 82 40 20 14 9 9 11 13 13 16 19 23 23 9 10 11 13 12
                                             
Greece 89 75 13 18 10 6 18 54 65 47 7 18 26 2 8 11
Hungary 95 92 25 62 22 11 6 20 29 30 14 23 24 5 9 9
Iceland 93 85 51 74 67 36 23 7 12 11 21 28 28 9 16 15
Ireland 101 79 9 31 4 1 1 21 33 38 38 11 13 13 3 5 6
Italy 89 83 26 75 20 6 3 22 29 27 21 23 25 7 8 8
                                             
Japan 96 95 1 3 1
Korea, Republic of 91 92 1 5 # # # 51 65 69 26 32 34 6 6 7
Luxembourg 83 79 37 68 43 24 12
Mexico 58 44 13 18 28 3 2 12 16 17 8 9 9 1 3 3
Netherlands 98 86 37 61 42 28 16 14 18 26 29 31 12 13 20 24 25 6 5 5 7 7
                                             
New Zealand 87 70 13 25 12 9 7 21 29 34 34 15 14 23 22 8 11 11
Norway 95 93 41 88 42 20 11 9 14 19 19 20 14 17 28 30 29 6 8 12 14 14
Poland 97 95 35 92 36 12 5 21 31 33 21 30 31 5 6 6
Portugal 90 80 22 45 25 13 8 6 25 27 27 5 17 21 20 2 6 8 8
Slovak Republic 94 90 30 80 36 7 2 (2) (2) 22 25 (2) (2) 16 19 (2) (2) 5 6
                                             
Spain 93 83 21 41 23 13 8 15 21 32 34 34 11 14 24 22 22 4 5 8 9 8
Sweden 99 97 39 93 28 17 13 8 9 16 17 16 11 11 25 32 30 7 6 12 16 15
Switzerland 91 87 39 78 47 20 9 6 6 10 12 12 11 12 17 20 21 5 6 9 10 11
Turkey 60 37 6 23 7 14 20 24 4 9 11 13 2 4 4 5
United Kingdom 90 74 12 26 10 6 5 15 16 29 28 29 7 11 12 13 13 6 7 7
United States 93 81 8 26 4 # # 37 41 44 45 45 15 17 18 23 24 8 9 11 11 10
                                             
Reporting partner
   countries
                                           
Brazil 87 77 33 55 35 23 17 10 12 9 11 5 6
Estonia 96 89 27 73 21 8 4 (2) (2) 32 31 (2) (2) 22 23 (2) (2) 12 11
Israel 94 90 6 20 2 1 # 12 12 25 26 15 18
Russian Federation 73 36 5 13 5 1 1 (2) (2) 41 (2) (2) 26 (2) (2)
Slovenia 98 96 27 84 26 (2) (2) 37 40 (2) (2) 35 38 (2) (2) 11 11
—Not available.
#Rounds to zero.                                            
1 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting OECD countries, to which each country reporting data contributes equally. The average is omitted for years in which less than 75 percent of the countries reported data.
2 Country did not exist in its current form in the given year.
3 Data for 1985 are for the former West Germany.
NOTE: Data refer to programs classified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 3, level 5A (first and second award), level 5B, and level 6. ISCED level 3 corresponds to secondary education in the United States. ISCED levels 5A (first and second award), 5B, and 6 together make up total tertiary education, which corresponds to 2-year and 4-year college undergraduate and graduate programs in the United States. Includes both full-time and part-time students. Some increases in enrollment rates may be due to more complete reporting by countries. Enrollment figures may not be directly comparable due to differing definitions of postsecondary (tertiary) education and the age at which it begins. Differences in reference dates between enrollment and population data can result in enrollment rates that exceed 100 percent.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance, selected years, 1987 through 2001; and Online Education Database, retrieved June 10, 2010, from http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. (This table was prepared June 2010.)

2010 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest