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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 421. Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who attained selected levels of postsecondary education, by age group and country: 2001 and 2008
Country 2001 2008
Vocational degree1 Bachelor's or higher degree2 Vocational degree1 Bachelor's or higher degree2
Total, 25 to 64 years old 25 to 34 years old 35 to 44 years old 45 to 54 years old 55 to 64 years old Total, 25 to 64 years old 25 to 34 years old 35 to 44 years old 45 to 54 years old 55 to 64 years old Total, 25 to 64 years old 25 to 34 years old 35 to 44 years old 45 to 54 years old 55 to 64 years old Total, 25 to 64 years old 25 to 34 years old 35 to 44 years old 45 to 54 years old 55 to 64 years old
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
OECD average3  8.2 9.8 9.0 7.4 5.6 14.7 17.9 15.5 13.7 10.0 9.4 10.1 10.0 9.1 7.1 20.8 26.9 21.9 18.0 15.1
Australia 9.7 9.7 10.1 10.1 8.7 19.2 23.9 19.3 18.7 12.4 10.3 9.8 10.7 10.7 9.7 25.9 32.2 27.4 23.4 18.9
Austria4 7.3 7.9 8.2 7.1 5.5 6.6 7.1 7.8 6.3 4.4 7.4 5.9 7.6 8.5 7.3 10.7 13.5 11.7 9.2 7.9
Belgium4 15.0 19.3 16.4 13.1 9.2 12.1 16.7 13.0 9.7 7.6 15.9 19.5 17.1 14.9 11.8 16.4 22.8 18.2 13.8 10.5
Canada 21.2 25.4 22.8 19.5 14.8 20.4 25.1 19.8 19.7 15.3 23.6 26.1 25.7 23.3 18.8 25.2 29.8 28.5 21.1 21.1
Chile 8.5 11.5 10.9 6.7 3.2 15.7 22.3 13.6 13.1 13.9
                                         
Czech Republic (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 11.1 11.3 13.0 10.7 9.3 (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 14.5 17.7 14.4 14.8 10.6
Denmark 18.9 18.4 20.1 20.7 15.8 7.5 10.7 7.9 6.4 4.4 7.0 8.2 7.8 6.8 5.3 27.5 34.9 29.3 24.9 21.0
Finland 17.5 20.2 20.8 16.0 12.1 14.8 18.0 16.2 13.4 11.2 15.0 5.4 19.9 19.3 14.9 21.5 32.9 24.0 17.3 13.6
France 11.2 16.7 11.7 8.8 5.9 11.9 17.5 10.8 10.0 8.2 11.1 16.9 12.9 8.6 5.6 16.4 23.7 18.2 11.6 11.8
Germany 9.7 8.2 10.7 10.0 9.7 13.5 13.5 14.9 14.6 10.5 9.0 6.5 9.4 10.0 9.4 16.4 17.5 17.3 15.9 15.0
                                         
Greece 5.4 7.4 7.2 3.8 2.9 12.4 16.6 14.5 11.8 6.2 6.6 9.6 7.9 5.3 2.7 16.8 18.6 18.6 16.3 12.7
Hungary (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 14.1 14.7 15.1 14.4 11.7 # 1.0 # # # 18.7 22.9 18.6 16.6 16.0
Iceland 6.0 5.5 7.6 5.7 4.1 18.8 21.1 21.2 18.6 11.0 3.4 2.2 4.2 4.3 2.6 27.9 30.6 32.1 26.0 21.0
Ireland 21.6 28.1 23.2 17.8 13.1 14.0 19.8 13.7 11.2 8.0 11.7 14.5 13.5 9.9 6.6 22.2 30.6 23.4 17.2 12.1
Italy (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 10.0 11.8 10.9 10.4 6.2 # # 0.5 # # 14.0 19.6 14.6 11.5 9.5
                                         
Japan 14.6 23.4 18.6 11.0 5.1 19.2 24.3 24.9 17.3 10.1 18.5 24.1 22.6 17.8 10.1 24.3 30.9 25.8 25.3 16.0
Korea, Republic of 6.7 14.5 5.9 2.2 0.8 17.5 25.0 20.0 11.0 8.1 10.9 23.3 10.8 4.4 1.4 25.6 34.5 31.7 18.9 10.5
Luxembourg 6.7 8.3 6.5 5.8 5.5 11.4 15.1 11.3 9.6 8.0 7.7 10.8 6.9 6.5 6.5 20.0 27.9 21.5 15.5 12.9
Mexico 1.7 2.7 1.8 0.8 0.4 13.3 15.3 15.5 10.8 6.8 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.2 0.7 14.9 18.5 14.6 14.0 8.9
Netherlands4  3.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 21.0 24.0 22.0 20.0 15.0 2.4 2.2 2.8 2.4 2.1 29.8 37.5 29.7 28.1 24.4
                                         
New Zealand 15.3 11.6 15.8 17.6 17.0 13.9 16.9 14.7 14.4 7.2 14.9 13.9 14.0 16.0 15.8 25.1 33.6 25.9 21.9 18.2
Norway4  2.8 2.8 3.4 3.0 1.9 25.6 32.0 25.6 23.4 18.5 2.4 1.8 2.1 3.0 2.7 33.6 43.8 36.3 28.7 25.3
Poland (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 11.9 15.2 10.9 10.8 10.2 (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 19.6 32.1 18.8 13.0 12.0
Portugal 2.4 3.1 2.5 2.1 1.5 6.6 10.6 6.6 4.6 3.2 (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 14.3 23.2 14.5 9.9 7.7
Slovak Republic 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.5 0.5 10.3 11.2 10.6 10.5 8.1 0.8 0.6 0.8 0.9 1.0 14.0 17.8 13.1 13.4 9.9
                                         
Spain 6.7 11.6 7.1 3.4 2.1 16.9 23.9 18.0 12.8 8.3 9.2 13.0 10.8 6.6 4.1 20.0 25.7 21.9 17.2 11.9
Sweden 14.7 17.1 16.9 14.4 9.6 16.9 19.7 15.8 17.2 14.7 8.6 8.4 8.4 9.1 8.6 23.4 32.4 24.3 19.3 17.8
Switzerland 9.6 9.7 11.3 8.6 7.7 15.8 15.9 18.2 15.4 12.5 10.4 9.7 11.4 10.7 9.3 23.3 28.8 25.0 20.8 18.0
Turkey (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 8.9 10.2 8.0 9.1 6.3 (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 12.0 15.5 10.6 9.6 9.5
United Kingdom 8.0 9.0 9.0 8.0 7.0 18.0 21.0 18.0 18.0 12.0 9.0 7.7 9.7 9.6 8.7 23.6 30.7 23.3 20.3 18.5
United States 9.0 9.2 9.6 9.5 6.5 28.3 29.9 27.9 30.0 24.1 9.6 9.3 9.9 10.2 8.9 31.5 32.3 33.1 29.6 31.1
                                         
Reporting partner
   countries
                                       
Brazil (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 10.8 11.0 11.6 10.6 9.1
Estonia 12.0 12.3 12.1 12.3 11.0 22.3 23.5 22.5 22.3 20.6
Israel 15.1 13.4 15.8 15.8 16.5 28.8 28.9 30.1 28.2 27.6
Russian Federation6  33.5 34.2 37.1 34.4 26.0 20.8 21.3 21.3 20.4 18.9
Slovenia 10.8 11.7 11.4 10.8 9.2 11.8 18.4 12.3 9.0 6.9
—Not available.
#Rounds to zero.
1 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 5B corresponds to the associate's degree in the United States in this table.
2 ISCED 5A, first award, corresponds to the bachelor's degree in the United States; ISCED 5A, second award, corresponds to master's and first-professional degrees in the United States; and ISCED 6 corresponds to doctor's degrees.
3 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting OECD countries, to which each country reporting data contributes equally.
4 Data from 2000 reported for 2001.
5 Included in bachelor's or higher degree.
6 Data from 2002 shown for 2001.
NOTE: Data in this table refer to degrees classified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as ISCED level 5B; level 5A, first and second award; and level 6.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance, 2002 and 2010. (This table was prepared July 2010.)

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