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# 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 as of 2021 (including those that had been invited to become members and were under review, referred to as the accession process), to which each country reporting data contributes equally.
NOTE: Of the 38 OECD countries, 36 are included in this figure. Data for New Zealand and Colombia are available only for 2021. Chile and Japan are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010 and 2021. 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 2021 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: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database, retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 603.10.
#Rounds to zero.
The percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who had completed high school is higher than the percentage of 55- to 64-year-olds who had completed high school.
The percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who had completed high school is lower than the percentage of 55- to 64-year-olds who had completed high school.
The percentages of 25- to 34-year-olds and 55- to 64-year-olds who had completed high school are not measurably different.
1 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.
2 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as of 2021 (including those that had been invited to become members and were under review, referred to as the accession process), to which each country reporting data contributes equally.
NOTE: Of the 38 OECD countries, 36 are included in this figure. Chile and Japan are excluded because 2021 data are not available for these countries. Data in this figure refer to degrees classified under the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011 as completing level 3 (upper secondary education). 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. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database, retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 603.10.
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 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 as of 2021 (including those that had been invited to become members and were under review, referred to as the accession process), to which each country reporting data contributes equally.
NOTE: Of the 38 OECD countries, 37 are included in this figure. Data for New Zealand and Colombia are available only for 2021. Chile is excluded because data are not available for 2010 and 2021. Data in this figure refer to degrees classified under ISCED 2011 as 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 2021 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: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 603.20.
#Rounds to zero.
The percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds with any postsecondary degree is higher than the percentage of 55- to 64-year-olds with any postsecondary degree.
The percentages of 25- to 34-year-olds and 55- to 64-year-olds who had completed high school are not measurably different.
1 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as of 2021 (including those that had been invited to become members and were under review, referred to as the accession process), to which each country reporting data contributes equally.
NOTE: Of the 38 OECD countries, 37 are included in this figure. Chile is excluded from the figure because data are not available for 2021. Data in this figure refer to degrees classified under the 2011 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) as 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). Data for Japan include awards from some postsecondary nondegree programs (i.e., awards that are below the associate’s degree level). Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 603.20.
1 Doctoral or equivalent degree data are included in master’s or equivalent degree.
2 Associate’s degree data are included in bachelor’s or equivalent degree and master’s or equivalent degree.
3 Data are from 2020.
4 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as of 2021 (including those that had been invited to become members and were under review, referred to as the accession process), to which each country reporting data contributes equally.
NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Of all 38 OECD countries, 36 are included in this figure. Data for Colombia and Japan are excluded because data on master’s degree attainment are not available for these countries. Data in this figure refer to degrees classified under the 2011 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) as 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 6 (bachelor’s or equivalent degree) and level 7 (a master’s or equivalent degree). Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 603.30.
1 Attainment data in this indicator 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 for all years prior to 2014, unless a country revised its 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 Attainment rates refer to the percentage of the population who had completed a certain level of education by the year of data collection, rather than the percentage who completed education in a particular year only.
3 Throughout this indicator, data are reported for all current Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as of 2021 (including those that had been invited to become members and were under review, referred to as the accession process) for which a given year’s data are available, even if they were not members of the OECD in that year.
4 In this indicator, data on high school completion refer to degrees classified as ISCED 2011 level 3, which generally corresponds to high school completion in the United States, with some exceptions.
5 Under ISCED 2011, postsecondary, or 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). The structure of education differs across countries and not all countries have significant numbers of awards at each of these degree levels.
6 Chile and Japan are excluded because 2021 data on their high school completion rates are not available.
7 The OECD defines the adult population as 25- to 64-year-olds to capture the adult population after postsecondary education and prior to retirement from the labor force.
8 Throughout this indicator, counts of countries are based on statistical testing using unrounded data.
9 Chile is excluded because 2021 data on its postsecondary attainment rates are not available.
10 Colombia and New Zealand are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010. Chile and Japan are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010 and 2021.
11 Throughout this indicator, the “OECD average” refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting OECD countries (including those in the accession process), to which each country reporting data contributes equally. Countries excluded from analyses in this indicator may be included in the OECD average.
12 Colombia and New Zealand are excluded because data are not available for these countries for 2010. Chile is excluded because data are not available for 2010 and 2021.
13 These 26 countries exclude Finland and Iceland, whose postsecondary degree attainment rates for 25- to 34-year-olds (40 and 42 percent, respectively) were not measurably different from 40 percent.
14 The bachelor’s degree attainment rate for Japan was reported to be 47 percent, but it includes master’s or equivalent degree and doctoral or equivalent degree.
15 Although both the U.S. percentage and OECD average percentage round to 1 percent, the unrounded U.S. percentage was higher than the unrounded OECD average (1.41 vs. 1.03 percent).