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Digest of Education Statistics: 2009
Digest of Education Statistics: 2009

NCES 2010-013
April 2010


Table 414. Percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded in mathematics and science, by field and country: Selected years, 1985 through 2006
Country All mathematics and science degrees1 Natural sciences2 Mathematics and computer science3 Engineering
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
OECD average4  22.9 22.8 22.3 5.8 4.8 4.6 4.0 5.4 5.3 13.3 12.7 12.4
Australia 19.3 21.1 21.1 21.3 9.9 7.6 5.9 6.4 3.8 5.1 8.2 7.7 5.6 8.5 7.0 7.2
Austria 16.8 19.6 21.1 25.7 26.8 29.2 5.0 5.3 6.0 5.0 5.4 6.1 4.1 5.2 5.3 3.4 7.2 8.8 7.7 9.0 9.9 17.3 14.2 14.3
Belgium (Flemish) 23.6 24.7 24.9 4.6 6.4 5.7 5.5 1.7 2.3 5.2 5.1 14.9 13.8 14.3
Canada 17.1 16.4 16.7 20.0 20.7 17.0 4.9 6.0 6.5 8.1 6.5 5.5 4.5 4.2 3.8 4.3 5.9 4.5 7.7 6.2 6.4 7.6 8.2 7.0
Czech Republic (5) (5) 29.5 26.7 27.0 (5) (5) 4.2 3.9 3.5 (5) (5) 8.4 3.8 4.7 (5) (5) 16.9 19.0 18.8
                                               
Denmark 10.5 16.3 16.2 6.3 4.4 2.5 6.8 2.4 2.3 3.1 3.1 2.6 16.2 21.7 17.0 0.6 10.8 11.2
Finland 39.3 33.5 37.2 32.2 30.0 29.1 7.7 4.1 4.0 3.9 2.7 2.8 6.3 5.9 6.9 3.3 5.6 5.3 25.3 23.4 26.3 24.9 21.7 20.9
France 30.1 26.0 26.2 12.2 6.5 6.7 5.5 5.5 5.7 12.5 14.0 13.8
Germany6 23.8 31.3 31.6 31.7 31.3 27.2 5.0 7.2 6.7 6.4 6.3 6.3 2.3 3.5 5.2 4.9 8.1 8.1 16.5 20.5 19.7 20.3 16.9 12.8
Greece 25.9 8.3 8.4 9.2
                                               
Hungary 12.6 11.0 13.9 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.2 2.4 5.4 10.4 7.4 7.1
Iceland 16.5 14.1 14.6 6.0 5.0 4.7 4.0 3.5 3.0 6.5 5.5 6.9
Ireland 28.8 34.1 32.3 29.3 17.7 12.8 14.1 16.9 11.5 3.5 4.0 6.3 4.7 7.2 4.4 12.0 13.7 10.7 10.6 9.9 8.9
Italy 19.5 19.7 19.5 27.5 23.9 23.2 8.1 7.6 6.8 5.9 4.8 4.8 3.1 3.9 3.8 3.2 2.2 2.2 8.3 8.3 8.9 18.4 16.9 16.2
Japan 2.4 2.4 3.4 20.3 21.0 19.3 18.9 17.4 16.9
                                               
Korea, Republic of 36.9 37.0 36.3 6.3 5.2 5.3 4.3 5.4 5.7 26.3 26.3 25.4
Mexico 23.0 27.3 26.9 2.2 2.6 2.6 6.7 9.3 8.9 14.1 15.3 15.4
Netherlands 21.8 21.1 16.2 14.9 14.6 8.5 7.1 3.2 2.5 1.4 1.2 1.6 1.6 1.9 4.6 5.1 12.1 12.4 11.1 7.7 8.1
New Zealand 20.5 19.5 17.8 19.9 19.4 11.7 8.2 11.2 6.7 6.6 5.5 5.5 1.9 7.6 6.7 3.3 5.8 3.2 4.7 5.6 6.1
Norway 12.9 16.8 11.6 13.7 13.2 2.5 2.1 3.1 0.7 0.8 1.4 1.8 0.6 0.5 3.4 4.7 3.8 10.2 13.2 7.5 8.2 7.9
                                               
Poland 16.7 17.7 21.6 2.7 2.3 4.0 2.0 5.3 6.0 12.0 10.1 11.6
Portugal 15.0 17.5 25.6 25.5 6.5 6.7 2.2 1.7 6.0 4.9 2.8 3.6 6.2 6.5 10.5 9.9 12.2 13.4 14.1
Slovak Republic (5) (5) 21.9 24.6 21.1 (5) (5) 2.0 3.7 3.5 (5) (5) 4.6 4.4 4.0 (5) (5) 15.3 16.5 13.7
Spain 13.9 15.0 18.2 22.7 24.1 24.4 5.5 5.7 4.3 5.3 4.2 4.0 1.3 2.6 4.5 4.3 5.2 5.5 7.0 6.7 9.4 13.1 14.7 14.8
Sweden 15.4 24.0 26.4 27.7 26.9 26.2 2.6 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.6 3.6 1.6 4.7 5.5 3.7 4.0 3.9 11.3 15.2 17.0 20.3 19.2 18.7
                                               
Switzerland 20.2 23.0 22.3 25.1 24.2 22.7 10.3 11.2 10.4 6.0 6.9 6.2 2.1 3.7 3.7 1.8 4.7 4.3 7.9 8.1 8.3 17.3 12.7 12.1
Turkey 23.0 20.6 20.9 24.1 22.3 17.1 3.6 4.6 5.1 7.4 6.1 4.9 1.6 2.1 2.7 3.6 4.1 3.2 17.8 13.8 13.1 13.1 12.0 9.0
United Kingdom 28.5 26.0 25.2 12.5 9.2 9.0 5.8 8.3 7.7 10.2 8.4 8.5
United States 21.7 16.9 17.1 16.7 16.4 6.3 5.1 6.6 5.8 6.0 5.5 4.0 3.3 3.9 4.8 4.2 9.8 7.8 6.7 6.6 6.2 6.1
                                               
Reporting partner
   countries
                                               
Brazil 11.4 11.3 3.2 3.2 3.5 3.3 4.8 4.7
Chile 22.9 24.0 3.2 2.5 2.6 3.8 17.2 17.7
Estonia (5) (5) 23.8 21.1 (5) (5) 6.3 4.7 (5) (5) 6.2 5.9 (5) (5) 11.3 10.5
Israel 19.0 26.7 24.1 3.1 5.1 5.4 6.8 7.5 5.4 9.1 14.1 13.3
Russian Federation (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) 18.3
Slovenia (5) (5) 17.7 15.0 (5) (5) 4.1 2.8 (5) (5) 2.0 2.1 (5) (5) 11.7 10.1
—Not available.
1 Includes life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics/statistics, computer science, and engineering.
2 Includes life sciences and physical sciences.
3 Includes mathematics/statistics and computer science.
4 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting OECD countries, to which each country reporting data contributes equally. The average is omitted for years in which less than 75 percent of the countries reported data.
5 Country did not exist in its current form in the given year.
6 Data for 1985 are for the former West Germany.
NOTE: Data in this table refer to degrees classified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 5A, first award. This level corresponds to the bachelor's degree in the United States. Data for Luxembourg are not shown because tertiary students study for only 1 year in Luxembourg. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. (This table was prepared July 2009.)