Fast Facts: International educational attainment (71)

International educational attainment

Question:
How does the educational attainment of the United States compare with other countries?

Response:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a group of 37 countries whose purpose is to promote trade and economic growth. The OECD also collects and publishes an array of data on its member countries. This Fast Fact uses OECD data to compare educational attainment across countries using two measures: high school completion and attainment of any postsecondary degree.¹ In the United States, “high school completion” refers to individuals who have been awarded a high school diploma or an equivalent credential, such as the GED.² “Attainment of any postsecondary degree” refers to individuals who have been awarded an associate’s or higher degree.³

In 29 of the 32 countries⁴ for which the OECD reported data on high school completion rates in both 2010 and 2020, the percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds who had completed high school in 2020 was higher than the percentage in 2010. The OECD average percentage⁵ of those with a high school education rose from 74 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, in the United States the percentage who had completed high school rose from 89 to 92 percent during this period.

Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who had completed high school in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries: 2010 and 2020

The data in this figure is described in the surrounding text.

# Rounds to zero.

¹ The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) was revised in 2011. Although data for 2010 were originally calculated using the 1997 version of ISCED, the footnoted countries revised their 2010 data to align with the 2011 version of ISCED.
² Data include some persons who completed a sufficient number of certain types of programs, any one of which individually would be classified as a program that only partially completes the high school (or upper secondary) level of education.
³ 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 the OECD in that year. Countries not shown in this figure may be included in the OECD average.

NOTE: Of the 38 OECD countries, 36 are included in this figure. Data for Denmark and Turkey are available only for 2010. Data for Colombia and New Zealand are available only for 2020. Chile and Japan are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010 and 2020. Data in this figure refer to degrees classified under ISCED 2011 as completing level 3 (upper secondary education) or to comparable degrees under ISCED 1997. In the United States, “high school completion” refers to individuals who have been awarded a high school diploma or an equivalent credential, such as the GED. ISCED 2011 was used to calculate data for 2020 for all countries. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

In each of the 32 countries⁶ for which the OECD reported data on postsecondary attainment rates in both 2010 and 2020, the percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds who had earned any postsecondary degree was higher in 2020 than in 2010. During this period, the OECD average percentage of those with any postsecondary degree increased by 9 percentage points to 39 percent, while the corresponding percentage for the United States increased by 8 percentage points to 50 percent.

Considering the younger age group, the OECD average percentage for 25- to 34-year-olds who had any postsecondary degree rose from 37 percent in 2010 to 46 percent in 2020. The percentage for those in this age group in the United States rose from 42 to 52 percent over this period. The percentage gap in postsecondary attainment between the United States and the OECD average in 2020 (6 percentage points) was not measurably different from the gap in 2010 (5 percentage points).

Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who had attained any postsecondary degree in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries: 2010 and 2020

¹ The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) was revised in 2011. Although data for 2010 were originally calculated using the 1997 version of ISCED, the footnoted countries revised their 2010 data to align with the 2011 version of ISCED.
² Data for both years include some postsecondary nontertiary awards (i.e., awards that are below the associate’s degree level).
³ 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 the OECD in that year. Countries not shown in this figure may be included in the OECD average.

NOTE: Of the 38 OECD countries, 37 are included in this figure. Data for Japan, Denmark, and Turkey are available only for 2010. Data for New Zealand and Colombia are available only for 2020. Chile is excluded because data are not available for 2010 and 2020. Data in this figure include all tertiary (postsecondary) degrees, which correspond to all degrees at the associate’s level and above in the United States. Under ISCED 2011, tertiary degrees are classified at the following levels: level 5 (corresponding to an associate’s degree in the United States), level 6 (a bachelor’s or equivalent degree), level 7 (a master’s or equivalent degree), and level 8 (a doctoral or equivalent degree). ISCED 2011 was used to calculate data for 2020 for all countries. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). International Educational Attainment. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cac.

The employment to population ratio of 25- to 64-year-olds is the number of persons in this age group who are employed as a percentage of the total civilian population in this age group. In 2020, this ratio was 74 in the United States, while the OECD average was 76. The table below provides detail by educational attainment.

Employment to population ratios of 25- to 64-year-olds, by highest level of educational attainment, and country: 2020
Country	Total population, 25 to 64 years old
Country	All levels of education	Less than high school completion	High school completion	Associate’s or higher degree
OECD Average¹	75.7 (0.04)	57.6 (0.11)	74.7 (0.07)	84.4 (0.06)
United States	74.3 (0.15)	55.1 (0.60)	69.0 (0.25)	81.9 (0.19)

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.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2021, September). Table 603.90. Employment to population ratios of 25- to 64-year-olds, by sex, highest level of educational attainment, and country: 2020 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_603.90.asp.

¹ Attainment data in this Fast Fact refer to comparable levels of degrees, as classified by the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). ISCED was revised in 2011. The previous version, ISCED 1997, was used to calculate data for all years prior to 2014, unless a country revised their historical data to align with the 2011 version of ISCED. Data using the ISCED 2011 classification may not be directly comparable to data using the ISCED 1997 classification. For additional information, please see https://www.oecd.org/education/isced-2011-operational-manual-9789264228368-en.htm.
² Data in this section refer to degrees classified as ISCED 2011 level 3, which generally corresponds to high school completion in the United States, with some exceptions.
³ Under ISCED 2011, postsecondary degrees are classified at the following levels: level 5 (corresponding to an associate’s degree in the United States), level 6 (a bachelor’s or equivalent degree), level 7 (a master’s or equivalent degree), and level 8 (a doctoral or equivalent degree). The structure of education differs across countries and not all countries have significant numbers of awards at each of these degree levels.
⁴ Colombia and New Zealand are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010. Denmark and Turkey are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2020. Chile and Japan are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010 and 2020.
⁵ Throughout this Fast Fact, the “OECD average” 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 the OECD in that year. Countries excluded from analyses in this Fast Fact may be included in the OECD average.
⁶ Colombia and New Zealand are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010. Denmark, Japan, and Turkey are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2020. Chile is excluded because data are not available for 2010 and 2020.

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