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Digest of Education Statistics
2006 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 395. Percentage of population enrolled in secondary and postsecondary institutions, by age group and country: Selected years, 1985 through 2003 
Country Secondary schools, 16 years old,  2003 Secondary schools, 17 years old, 2003 Postsecondary education
18 to 21 years old 22 to 25 years old 26 to 29 years old
1985 1990 1999 2002 1985 1990 1999 2002 1985 1990 1999 2002
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Australia 93 80 31 35 15 20 8 10
Austria 90 77 15 14 20 17 12 8
Belgium1  102 104 25 42 42 7 15 18 2 3 5
Canada 27 18 7
Czech Republic 100 98 17 20 12 16 4 5
                             
Denmark 93 86 7 7 8 10 16 18 27 29 8 9 15 16
Finland 96 95 9 14 23 21 17 21 35 39 8 10 18 19
France 96 89 19 25 35 35 10 12 20 20 4 4 5 5
Germany2  97 91 9 9 11 12 16 19 20 9 10 11 12
Greece 97 68 54 46 7 24 2 11
                             
Hungary 94 89 20 24 14 18 5 7
Iceland 93 83 7 10 21 23 9 11
Ireland 96 76 21 33 11 3
Italy 88 81 22 24 21 21 7 8
Japan 97 95
                             
Korea, Republic of 98 93 51 56 26 32 6 7
Mexico 50 38 12 15 8 7 1 3
Netherlands 97 81 14 18 26 28 12 13 20 22 6 5 5 6
New Zealand 85 67 21 29 30 15 14 17 8 8
Norway 94 93 9 14 19 17 14 17 28 27 6 8 12 13
                             
Poland 97 94 21 26 21 26 5 7
Portugal 79 74 6 25 25 5 17 20 2 6 8
Spain 92 81 15 21 32 35 11 14 24 24 4 5 8 8
Sweden 97 97 8 9 16 17 11 11 25 28 7 6 12 13
Switzerland 90 86 6 6 10 10 11 12 17 18 5 6 9 9
                             
Turkey 53 31 7 14 4 9 2 4
United Kingdom 94 81 15 16 29 30 7 11 12 12 6 6
United States 94 82 37 41 44 46 15 17 18 25 8 9 11 11
—Not available.
1 Data for Flemish Belgium only.
2 Data for 1985 are for the former West Germany.
NOTE: Data in this table 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. The table includes both full-time and part-time students. ISCED 3 corresponds to secondary education in the United States. ISCED 5A (first and second award), ISCED 5B, and ISCED 6 correspond to 2-year and 4-year college undergraduate and graduate programs in the United States. 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 education and the age at which postsecondary education 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 2004; and Education Online Database, 2003, retrieved March 20, 2006, from http://stats.oecd.org/WBOS/Default/aspx. U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October 2000 through October 2003. (This table was prepared March 2006.)

2006 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest