EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Indicator 2: Enrollment in Early Childhood Education

The percentage of 3- to 7-year-olds who are enrolled in public and private early childhood education programs* reflects the importance of student participation in education and the availability of affordable programs. The percentage of children enrolled in early childhood education at different ages is influenced by differences in the timing of entry. A country's early childhood education enrollment rates may be influenced by the labor force participation of its females and by the prevalence of center-based or home-based care. While children may be exposed to educational opportunities in a variety of settings, this indicator only includes enrollment in center- or school-based education programs.

• In the United States, 29 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in an early childhood education program in 1992. In the G-7 countries for which data were available, 1992 enrollment for 3-year-olds ranged from approximately 23 percent in Japan to almost 100 percent in France.

• By age 4, over half of the children in the United States were enrolled in some form of early childhood education. In a number of countriesFrance, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Spainenrollment among 4-year-olds was 90 percent or higher.

• By age 6, almost all the children in every country were enrolled in an education program, with the exception of Finland (58 percent), Norway (79 percent), and Turkey (14 percent). By age 7, all countries had a net enrollment rate above 93 percent.

*Early childhood education includes both preprimary and primary education, since there are variations in the definition of preprimary education among countries.

Table 2: Enrollment rates1 in public and private early
childhood education,2 by age and country: 1992 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	    	
			Percent enrolled by single year of age3  
-------------------------------------------------------------------          
Country			3	4	5	6	 7
-------------------------------------------------------------------
G-74
Canada                  -       45.9    99.2   103.7    102.9
France                  98.8   101.4   101.5   100.6    100.2
West Germany (former)   30.8    68.5    78.5   115.1     97.5
Japan                   23.1    57.6    65.7   101.9    101.0
United Kingdom          37.0    90.1    98.9    98.5     98.9
United States           28.5    53.0    88.6   102.3    103.3
Other
Austria			29.0	66.3	86.2	98.4	100.0
Belgium                 97.7    99.3    99.7    99.8     99.1
Czech Republic          65.7    84.1    99.8   106.7    102.8
Denmark                 37.9    53.6    61.1    96.4     99.7
Finland                 24.3    28.1    32.0    57.6     99.5
Greece                  11.2    48.9    85.2   102.5     95.6
Hungary                 99.0   100.5   101.2   100.6    101.1
Ireland                  1.2    55.7   100.0    99.1    100.5
Netherlands              0.0    98.0    98.8    97.7    100.0
New Zealand             73.7    92.6   105.1   100.8    100.9
Norway                  44.0    56.5    65.1    79.3     99.3
Poland                  78.3    -       -       95.0     98.5
Russia			53.9	52.0	51.6	99.3	100.0
Spain                   37.2    95.8   100.4   103.2    103.8
Sweden                  45.2    50.8    60.6    99.9     97.5
Switzerland              7.4    26.2    77.3    99.0    100.1
Turkey                  -        0.3     1.5    14.2     93.3
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-Not available due to lack of data or problems in defining preprimary education at this age.
1/ Head counts.
2/ Enrollment rates that exceed 100 reflect measurement error.
3/ Enrollment for 3-year-olds reflects only enrollment in preprimary education. The other ages reflect both preprimary and primary enrollment.
4/ No data available for Italy.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 2 for details on indicator calculation for Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the former West Germany, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom and for information on the calculation of enrollment rates.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.

Figure 2: Enrollment rates in early childhood education; by age and G-7 country: /1 /2 1992

1/ No data available for Italy.

2/ Countries are reported in alphabetical order

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.

See Supplemental Notes on figure and Tables

[Indicator 1]

[Indicator 3]