Pupil/teacher ratios in public and private elementary and secondary schools, by level of education and country: Selected years, 2000 through 2011

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Table 601.50.

Country	Elementary														Junior high school (lower secondary)														Senior high school (upper secondary)
Country	2000		2005		2007		2008		2009		2010		2011		2000		2005		2007		2008		2009		2010		2011		2000		2005		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
OECD average¹	17.7		17.0		16.2		16.4		16.0		15.9		15.4		—		14.0		13.4		13.7		13.5		13.6		13.2		13.7		13.5		13.1		13.3		13.4		13.6		13.7
Australia	17.3		16.2		15.9		15.8		15.8		15.7		15.6		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		12.1	^2,3	12.1	^2,3	12.0	^2,3	12.0	^2,3	12.0	^2,3	12.0	^2,3
Austria	—		14.1		13.6		12.9		12.6		12.2		12.1		—		10.6		10.3		9.9		9.6		9.3		9.1		—		11.3		11.0		10.5		10.2		10.1		9.8
Belgium	15.0	⁴	12.8		12.6	⁵	12.6	⁵	12.5	⁵	12.4	⁵	12.4	⁵	—		9.4		9.2	⁵	8.1	⁵	8.1	⁵	8.1	⁵	8.1	⁵	9.7	^3,6	9.9	⁶	10.2	^5,6	10.8	^5,6	10.2	^5,6	10.1	^5,6	10.1	^5,6
Canada	18.1		—		—		—		—		—		—		18.1		—		—		16.6	^4,7	17.7	^4,7	15.9	^4,7	—		19.5		—		16.4	^3,4,7,8	14.7		15.8		14.2		—
Chile	—		25.9		24.7		24.1		22.4		24.6		23.1		—		25.9		24.7		24.1		22.4		25.1		23.6		—		26.6		25.7		25.2		24.7		26.1		25.4

Czech Republic	19.7		17.5		18.7		18.1		18.4		18.7		18.7		14.7		13.5		12.3		11.8		11.5		11.2		11.1		11.5		12.8		12.3		12.2		12.2		12.1		11.7
Denmark	10.4		—		—		—		—		—		—		11.4		11.9	⁷	11.2	⁷	10.1	⁷	9.9	⁷	11.5	⁷	11.8	⁷	14.4		—		—		—		—		—		—
Estonia	—		—		14.4		16.4		16.2		16.2		13.2		—		—		11.4		16.0		15.7		14.9		10.1		—		—		12.2	⁶	12.4	⁶	16.8	⁶	16.6	⁶	13.7
Finland	16.9		15.9		15.0		14.4		13.6		14.0		13.7		10.7		10.0		9.9		10.6		10.1		9.8		9.3		17.0	^6,9	18.0	^6,9	15.9	⁶	15.9	⁶	16.6	⁶	17.1	⁶	16.3	⁶
France	19.8		19.4		19.7	⁵	19.9	⁵	19.7	⁵	18.7	⁵	18.4	⁵	14.7		14.2		14.3	⁵	14.6	⁵	14.9	⁵	15.0	⁵	14.8	⁵	10.4		10.3		9.6	⁵	9.4	⁵	9.6	⁵	9.7	⁵	10.0	⁵

Germany	19.8		18.8		18.3		18.0		17.4		16.7		16.3		15.7		15.5		15.2		15.0		15.1		14.9		14.2		13.9		14.0		14.3		14.0		13.9		13.2		13.8
Greece	13.4		11.1		10.1		—		—		—		—		10.8		7.9		7.7		—		—		—		—		10.5		8.8		7.3		—		—		—		—
Hungary	10.9		10.6		10.2		10.6		10.7		10.8		10.7		10.9		10.4		10.2		10.9		10.8		10.7		10.5		11.4	⁶	12.2		12.1		12.3		12.8		12.5		12.4
Iceland	—		—		—		—		—		—		10.2		12.7	⁷	11.3	⁷	10.4	⁷	10.0	⁷	9.9	⁷	10.3	⁷	10.6		9.7		10.8	⁶	10.2	⁶	10.6	⁶	10.9	⁶	11.3		11.5	⁶
Ireland	21.5		17.9		17.9		17.8		15.9		15.9		15.7		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		15.9	^3,6	15.5	^3,6	13.2	^3,6,8	12.8	^3,6,8	12.6	^3,6,8	14.4	^3,6,8	14.4	^3,6

Israel	—		17.3		16.4		16.3		17.0		20.6	⁸	15.9	⁸	—		13.4		12.4		12.2		13.7		12.8	⁸	13.6	⁸	—		13.4		11.8		10.9		10.8		11.0	⁸	11.3	⁸
Italy	11.0		10.6		10.5		10.6	⁸	10.7	⁸	11.3	⁸	11.7	⁸	10.4		10.1		9.4		9.7	⁸	10.0	⁸	11.9	⁸	11.5	⁸	10.2		11.0		10.8		11.8	⁸	11.8	⁸	12.1	⁸	12.8	⁸
Japan	20.9		19.4		19.0		18.8		18.6		18.4		18.1		16.8		15.1		14.8		14.7		14.5		14.4		14.2		14.0		13.0	⁶	12.5	⁶	12.3	⁶	12.2	⁶	12.2	⁶	12.2	⁶
Korea, Republic of	32.1		28.0		25.6		24.1		22.5		21.1		19.6		21.5		20.8		20.5		20.2		19.9		19.7		18.8		20.9		16.0		16.2		16.5		16.7		16.5		15.8
Luxembourg	15.9	⁸	—		11.2	⁸	12.1	⁸	11.6		10.1		9.9		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		9.2	^3,8	9.0	^3,8	9.0	^3,8	9.1	^3,8	9.1	³	9.1	³	9.6	³

Mexico	27.2		28.3		28.0		28.0		28.1		28.1		28.1		34.8		33.7		33.3		33.9		33.0		32.7		31.9		26.5		25.8		25.7		25.8		25.6		26.9		26.8
Netherlands	16.8	⁴	15.9	⁴	15.6	⁴	15.8	^4,8	15.8	^4,8	15.7	^4,8	15.8		—		—		—		—		—		—		15.3		17.1	³	16.2	³	15.7	^3,6	15.8	^3,6,8	16.1	^3,6,8	16.5	^3,6,8	18.2
New Zealand	20.6		18.1		17.5		17.1		16.3		16.2		16.3		19.9		16.8		16.2		16.2		16.3		16.3		16.3		13.1		12.9		13.3		12.8		12.8		14.4		13.9
Norway	12.4		—		11.0	⁸	10.8	⁸	10.7	⁸	10.5	⁸	10.4	⁸	9.9		—		10.2	⁸	10.1	⁸	9.9	⁸	9.9	⁸	10.0	⁸	9.7		—		9.8	^6,8	9.9	^6,8	9.4	^6,8	9.4	⁸	9.7	^6,8
Poland	12.7		11.7		11.0		10.5		10.2		10.0		11.0		11.5		12.7		12.4		12.9		12.9		12.7		10.0		16.9		12.9		12.2		12.2		12.0		12.1		11.1

Portugal	12.1		10.8		11.8		11.3		11.3		10.9		11.2		10.4		8.2		7.9		8.1		7.6		7.9		8.2		7.9		8.0		8.4	⁶	7.3	⁶	7.7	⁶	7.2	⁶	7.3	⁶
Slovak Republic	18.3		18.9		17.9		18.6		17.7		17.1		16.9		13.5		14.1		13.9		14.5		14.0		13.6		13.1		12.8		14.3		14.1		15.1		15.1		14.6		14.3
Slovenia	—		15.0		15.2		15.8		16.7		16.2		16.0		—		11.1		9.5		8.9		7.9		8.0		7.9		—		14.6		13.9	⁶	13.7	⁶	14.3	⁶	14.3	⁶	14.3	⁶
Spain	14.9		14.3		13.6		13.1		13.3		13.2		13.2		—		12.5		11.7		10.3		10.1		10.1		10.3		11.9	³	8.1		7.7		8.7		9.3		9.6		9.8
Sweden	12.8		12.2		12.3		12.2		12.1		11.7		11.3		12.8		12.0		11.5		11.4		11.3		11.4		11.3		15.2		14.0		13.6		14.7		13.2		13.1		13.0

Switzerland⁸	—		14.6		14.8		15.4		15.4		14.9		—		—		11.7		12.3		12.1		12.0		11.8		—		—		10.5	²	10.6	²	10.4	²	10.4	²	10.3	²	—
Turkey	30.5		25.8		26.2		24.4		22.9		21.7		21.0		—		†		†		†		†		†		†		14.0		16.2		16.2		17.0		16.9		17.6		17.8
United Kingdom	21.2		20.7		19.4		20.2		19.9		19.8		19.9		17.6	²	17.0		16.7		15.0		16.1		17.1		15.2		12.5	²	11.8	^2,6	11.3	^2,6	12.4	⁶	12.3	⁶	15.2	⁶	17.3
United States	15.8		14.9		14.6		15.0		14.8		14.5		15.3		16.3		15.1		14.7		14.8		14.3		14.0		15.2		14.1		16.0		15.6		15.6		15.1		15.0		15.3

Other reporting countries
Brazil	—		22.9		25.8		24.5		24.0		23.4		22.5		—		18.1		22.3		21.2		21.0		20.4		19.8		—		17.6		20.2		18.4		18.1		17.3		16.9
Russian Federation	—		—		17.0	⁸	17.3	⁸	17.9	⁸	19.2	⁸	20.0	⁸	—		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		11.2	^6,10	8.8	^3,6,11	8.7	^3,6,11	8.7	^3,6,11	11.3	^3,6,11	8.7	^3,6,8

—Not available.

†Not applicable. This level of education does not exist within the national education structure; students in the age group normally associated with this education level are reported in other levels.

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. However, if data were reported for less than 75 percent of the countries, the average for that year is omitted.

² Includes only general programs.

³ Includes junior high school data.

⁴ Includes preprimary data.

⁵ Excludes independent private institutions.

⁶ Includes postsecondary non-higher-education.

⁷ Includes elementary school data.

⁸ Public schools only.

⁹ Includes occupation-specific education corresponding to that offered at the vocational associate's degree level in the United States.

¹⁰ Excludes general programs.

¹¹ Excludes part-time personnel in public institutions.

NOTE: The pupil/teacher ratio is the number of full-time-equivalent students divided by the number of full-time-equivalent teachers, including teachers for students with disabilities and other special teachers. In this table, elementary school corresponds to International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 1 (U.S. grades 1 through 6), junior high school corresponds to ISCED level 2 (U.S. grades 7 through 9), and senior high school corresponds to ISCED level 3 (U.S. grades 10 through 12).

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database; and Education at a Glance, 2002 through 2013. (This table was prepared December 2013).

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