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Digest of Education Statistics
2013 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 603.50. Number of bachelor's degree recipients per 100 persons at the typical age of graduation, by sex and country: 2005 through 2011
Country Typical age of gradua-
tion, 2011
Total Male Female
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
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  --- 34.7 36.2 37.5 39.1 38.9 39.8 39.7 27.5 28.7 30.0 31.0 31.0 31.5 31.8 42.3 44.0 45.3 47.5 47.1 48.5 48.0
Australia 21-22 59.9 59.6 60.7 58.9 58.5 58.6 59.0 47.9 47.4 48.6 47.0 46.9 46.5 47.0 72.5 72.5 73.4 71.4 70.8 71.4 71.8
Austria 22-25 20.4 21.7 22.4 25.8 30.3 30.7 33.7 19.0 20.4 20.8 22.7 25.9 26.3 28.5 21.8 22.9 24.0 29.1 34.7 35.2 39.0
Belgium (Flemish)2 21 18.4 19.0 35.4 27.0 --- --- --- 17.0 17.9 32.6 24.4 --- --- --- 19.8 20.2 38.2 29.6 --- --- ---
Canada 22 33.6 39.3 35.2 39.5 38.9 38.6 37.6 25.2 29.5 26.5 29.1 29.3 29.1 28.5 42.2 49.7 44.3 50.6 49.0 48.6 47.2
Chile 23-26 11.5 15.0 14.5 14.7 17.6 18.1 18.5 9.7 13.0 11.9 11.7 13.2 14.9 15.5 13.4 17.0 17.3 17.8 22.1 21.5 21.6
                                             
Czech Republic 22-26 26.0 30.7 36.4 39.2 39.7 42.3 42.8 22.6 26.5 31.0 32.2 30.4 31.1 30.8 29.5 35.2 42.1 46.6 49.7 54.4 55.5
Denmark 24-26 52.9 50.3 50.9 50.3 48.3 50.7 50.6 37.2 37.0 38.3 38.3 35.3 37.5 38.3 69.2 63.7 63.9 62.6 61.7 64.3 63.3
Estonia 22-24 28.5 26.4 27.3 23.8 22.9 22.3 23.8 17.6 15.4 17.6 14.9 13.7 14.0 15.4 39.5 37.8 37.3 32.8 32.7 31.6 32.6
Finland3 24 53.8 57.3 58.8 79.8 42.3 46.4 50.3 38.8 40.6 41.3 55.3 28.7 33.1 36.4 69.7 74.5 77.4 105.6 56.6 60.3 65.0
France 19-24 --- 34.2 33.8 33.9 33.0 --- --- --- 30.6 30.2 30.3 29.8 --- --- --- 37.9 37.5 37.6 36.3 --- ---
                                             
Germany 24-27 20.5 21.0 23.2 25.5 28.9 30.4 31.0 20.0 20.0 22.0 24.0 27.4 28.7 29.6 21.1 22.0 24.4 27.0 30.5 32.2 32.5
Greece2 23-24 23.9 23.5 21.7 26.6 --- 25.4 27.3 16.3 16.1 14.7 18.3 --- 17.5 18.6 32.2 31.7 29.4 35.5 --- 34.0 36.7
Hungary 21-24 41.5 38.2 38.8 37.6 39.0 38.4 32.8 29.0 26.1 26.2 25.2 27.1 28.0 25.0 54.5 51.0 51.8 50.4 51.2 49.1 41.0
Iceland 23-25 56.3 62.8 62.8 55.9 50.7 65.4 --- 33.6 37.7 38.0 34.1 30.7 40.1 --- 80.5 89.6 88.0 78.9 72.2 91.3 ---
Ireland 21 40.7 42.8 44.8 46.0 47.1 52.2 46.8 33.3 33.4 36.4 36.9 38.5 45.3 40.0 48.0 52.5 53.4 55.2 55.4 58.9 53.5
                                             
Israel 26-29 32.9 33.4 36.1 36.3 36.4 36.8 38.5 25.7 26.8 29.1 29.6 30.8 30.6 31.8 40.2 40.3 43.1 43.1 42.0 43.1 45.3
Italy 23-25 44.8 42.7 38.7 35.8 34.6 33.6 34.3 37.3 35.1 31.6 29.5 28.5 26.9 27.3 52.7 50.6 46.1 42.3 40.9 40.6 41.6
Japan 21-23 36.9 38.7 38.8 40.6 41.5 41.3 44.8 41.3 42.8 42.9 44.9 46.1 45.4 49.1 32.2 34.3 34.4 36.0 36.7 37.1 40.2
Korea, Republic of 22-26 35.5 41.0 42.9 48.7 50.0 50.7 49.9 34.8 40.2 42.7 49.0 51.0 50.9 49.2 36.2 41.7 43.2 48.5 48.8 50.4 50.7
Mexico 23 15.2 18.1 18.2 17.8 19.0 19.5 20.9 14.5 16.7 16.8 16.2 17.4 17.7 19.3 15.9 19.5 19.7 19.3 20.7 21.2 22.4
                                             
Netherlands 23 47.2 49.2 47.8 46.0 45.6 44.7 45.3 40.2 42.9 41.7 39.8 39.4 38.6 38.5 54.3 55.7 54.1 52.3 51.9 51.0 52.2
New Zealand 21-23 49.0 53.5 53.8 50.0 50.7 47.3 51.0 36.6 40.6 41.6 37.6 38.9 36.7 37.6 62.0 67.0 66.0 63.0 63.1 58.6 65.1
Norway 22-25 42.1 45.1 45.0 46.1 44.3 46.1 46.1 28.8 31.9 31.8 33.9 32.0 33.7 33.4 55.8 58.8 58.7 58.8 57.3 58.8 59.3
Poland 23-25 45.0 44.8 46.6 48.2 49.4 56.9 60.6 32.8 32.9 34.4 35.0 35.9 40.5 42.9 57.6 57.1 59.2 61.9 63.3 73.8 79.1
Portugal 22 33.7 34.9 46.0 50.4 44.3 44.6 42.9 21.7 22.7 35.0 40.3 35.9 34.5 34.2 46.0 47.4 57.4 60.9 53.1 55.2 52.1
                                             
Slovak Republic 21-24 30.1 33.7 37.9 57.6 61.7 50.9 48.6 25.6 26.0 26.8 38.7 42.8 35.2 33.9 34.8 41.8 49.6 77.3 81.5 67.3 63.6
Slovenia 23-25 21.6 21.6 21.1 22.6 27.9 34.7 38.1 14.3 14.2 13.9 14.4 17.2 21.7 25.2 29.4 29.3 29.0 31.7 39.6 49.2 52.1
Spain 20-23 35.0 35.3 34.7 35.5 37.4 39.5 45.1 27.1 27.1 26.6 27.3 28.8 30.7 35.7 43.3 43.8 43.3 44.2 46.4 48.5 54.9
Sweden 25 44.0 43.3 42.2 40.9 38.1 35.7 38.5 30.8 29.8 29.1 27.9 25.8 23.6 25.0 57.6 57.2 55.8 54.7 51.0 48.6 52.7
Switzerland 24-26 25.0 27.0 28.9 30.6 29.2 28.8 28.0 26.1 26.8 28.7 29.2 27.0 26.7 25.4 23.9 27.1 29.2 32.0 31.5 31.0 30.7
                                             
Turkey 23-24 11.3 15.4 17.0 19.5 20.8 23.1 22.7 11.8 16.3 17.9 20.6 22.4 24.9 23.9 10.7 14.5 15.9 18.4 19.2 21.2 21.4
United Kingdom 20-24 39.8 39.0 39.0 40.2 39.9 41.9 43.4 34.1 33.0 32.9 33.5 33.8 35.6 36.6 45.7 45.2 45.4 47.2 46.3 48.6 50.6
United States 21 34.2 35.5 36.5 37.3 37.8 38.2 38.8 28.1 29.1 30.1 31.0 31.4 31.8 32.4 40.7 42.4 43.4 43.9 44.5 45.0 45.4
                                             
Other reporting countries                                            
Brazil 22 17.5 21.3 22.7 25.6 24.9 23.1 25.9 13.3 16.2 18.4 19.9 17.9 16.9 19.0 21.6 26.4 27.0 31.3 32.0 29.4 32.8
Russian Federation 21-22 45.9 43.7 48.6 52.7 51.8 55.1 58.6 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
---Not available.
1 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, to which each country reporting data contributes equally. The average includes all current OECD countries for which a given year's data are available, even if they were not members of OECD in that year.
2 Reference year for typical age of graduation is 2008.
3 Structural changes in the Finnish higher education system accounted for much of the increase in Finnish degree recipients in 2008, as well as the decrease in 2009. Students had a strong incentive to complete their degrees in 2008. Students who did not complete their degrees in 2008 may have had to spend extra time or take additional courses in order to meet new requirements that went into effect in 2009.
NOTE: Data in this table refer to degrees classified by OECD as International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 5A, first award. This level corresponds to the bachelor's degree in the United States. The recipients-per-100-persons ratio relates the number of people of all ages earning bachelor's degrees in a particular year to the number of people in the population at the typical minimum age of graduation. In countries where there are two types of first awards (corresponding with different typical ages of graduation) the recipients-per-100-persons ratio is the sum of the two different award types. The typical age is based on full-time attendance and normal progression through the education system (without repeating coursework, taking time off, etc.); this age varies across countries because of differences in their education systems and differences in program duration. This age is presented for the most recent year of data and may differ from previous years; please see previously published volumes of the Digest of Education Statistics for the typical age of graduation in previous years. Data for Luxembourg are not shown because students generally attend no more than 1 year of higher education in Luxembourg and must complete their degrees in other countries.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance, 2006 through 2013; and Online Education Database, retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. (This table was prepared September 2013.)

2013 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest