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Digest of Education Statistics: 2011
Digest of Education Statistics: 2011

NCES 2012-001
May 2012


Table 7. Percentage of the population 3 to 34 years old enrolled in school, by age group: Selected years, 1940 through 2010
Year Total,
3 to 34 years old
3 and 4
years old
5 and 6 years old 7 to 13 years old 14 to 17 years old 18 and 19 years old 20 to 24 years old 25 to 29 years old 30 to 34 years old
Total 14 and 15 16 and 17 Total In elemen- tary and secondary In higher education Total 20 and 21 22 to 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1940 (†)   (†) (†) 95.0 (—) 79.3 (—) (†) (†) 28.9 (—) (†) (†) 6.6 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1945 (†)   (†) (†) 98.1 (—) 78.4 (—) (†) (†) 20.7 (—) (†) (†) 3.9 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1947 (†)   (†) 73.8 (—) 98.5 (—) 79.3 (—) (†) (†) 24.3 (—) (†) (†) 10.2 (—) (†) (†) 3.0 (—) (†)  
1948 (†)   (†) 74.7 (—) 98.1 (—) 81.8 (—) (†) (†) 26.9 (—) (†) (†) 9.7 (—) (†) (†) 2.6 (—) (†)  
1949 (†)   (†) 76.2 (—) 98.6 (—) 81.6 (—) (†) (†) 25.3 (—) (†) (†) 9.2 (—) (†) (†) 3.8 (—) (†)  
                                                                 
1950 (†)   (†) 74.4 (—) 98.7 (—) 83.7 (—) (†) (†) 29.4 (—) (†) (†) 9.0 (—) (†) (†) 3.0 (—) 0.9 (—)  
1951 (†)   (†) 73.6 (—) 99.1 (—) 85.2 (—) (†) (†) 26.2 (—) (†) (†) 8.6 (—) (†) (†) 2.5 (—) (†)  
1952 (†)   (†) 75.2 (—) 98.8 (—) 85.2 (—) (†) (†) 28.8 (—) (†) (†) 9.7 (—) (†) (†) 2.6 (—) 1.2 (—)  
1953 (†)   (†) 78.6 (—) 99.4 (—) 85.9 (—) (†) (†) 31.2 (—) (†) (†) 11.1 (—) (†) (†) 2.9 (—) 1.7 (—)  
1954 (†)   (†) 77.3 (—) 99.4 (—) 87.1 (—) (†) (†) 32.4 (—) (†) (†) 11.2 (—) (†) (†) 4.1 (—) 1.5 (—)  
                                                                 
1955 (†)   (†) 78.1 (—) 99.2 (—) 86.9 (—) (†) (†) 31.5 (—) (†) (†) 11.1 (—) (†) (†) 4.2 (—) 1.6 (—)  
1956 (†)   (†) 77.6 (—) 99.3 (—) 88.2 (—) (†) (†) 35.4 (—) (†) (†) 12.8 (—) (†) (†) 5.1 (—) 1.9 (—)  
1957 (†)   (†) 78.6 (—) 99.5 (—) 89.5 (—) (†) (†) 34.9 (—) (†) (†) 14.0 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1958 (†)   (†) 80.4 (—) 99.5 (—) 89.2 (—) (†) (†) 37.6 (—) (†) (†) 13.4 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1959 (†)   (†) 80.0 (—) 99.4 (—) 90.2 (—) (†) (†) 36.8 (—) (†) (†) 12.7 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
                                                                 
1960 (†)   (†) 80.7 (—) 99.5 (—) 90.3 (—) (†) (†) 38.4 (—) (†) (†) 13.1 (—) (†) (†) 4.9 (—) 2.4 (—)  
1961 (†)   (†) 81.7 (—) 99.3 (—) 91.4 (—) (†) (†) 38.0 (—) (†) (†) 13.7 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1962 (†)   (†) 82.2 (—) 99.3 (—) 92.0 (—) (†) (†) 41.8 (—) (†) (†) 15.6 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1963 (†)   (†) 82.7 (—) 99.3 (—) 92.9 (—) (†) (†) 40.9 (—) (†) (†) 17.3 (—) (†) (†) (†) (†)  
1964 (†)   (†) 83.3 (—) 99.0 (—) 93.1 (—) (†) (†) 41.6 (—) (†) (†) 16.8 (—) (†) (†) 5.2 (—) 2.6 (—)  
                                                                 
1965 55.5 (—) 10.6   (—) 84.9 (—) 99.4 (—) 93.2 (—) (†) (†) 46.3 (—) (†) (†) 19.0 (—) 27.6 (—) 13.2 (—) 6.1 (—) 3.2 (—)  
1966 56.1 (—) 12.5   (—) 85.8 (—) 99.3 (—) 93.7 (—) (†) (†) 47.2 (—) (†) (†) 19.9 (—) 29.9 (—) 13.2 (—) 6.5 (—) 2.7 (—)  
1967 56.6 (—) 14.2   (—) 87.4 (—) 99.3 (—) 93.7 (—) (†) (†) 47.6 (—) (†) (†) 22.0 (—) 33.3 (—) 13.6 (—) 6.6 (—) 4.0 (—)  
1968 56.7 (—) 15.7   (—) 87.6 (—) 99.1 (—) 94.2 (—) (†) (†) 50.4 (—) (†) (†) 21.4 (—) 31.2 (—) 13.8 (—) 7.0 (—) 3.9 (—)  
1969 57.0 (—) 16.1   (—) 88.4 (—) 99.2 (—) 94.0 (—) (†) (†) 50.2 (—) (†) (†) 23.0 (—) 34.1 (—) 15.4 (—) 7.9 (—) 4.8 (—)  
                                                                 
1970 56.4 (0.22) 20.5   (0.73) 89.5 (0.53) 99.2 (0.08) 94.1 (0.27) 98.1 (0.22) 90.0 (0.50) 47.7 (0.87) 10.5 (0.53) 37.3 (0.84) 21.5 (0.48) 31.9 (0.87) 14.9 (0.53) 7.5 (0.33) 4.2 (0.27)  
1971 56.2 (0.22) 21.2   (0.75) 91.6 (0.49) 99.1 (0.08) 94.5 (0.26) 98.6 (0.19) 90.2 (0.49) 49.2 (0.86) 11.5 (0.55) 37.7 (0.83) 21.9 (0.47) 32.2 (0.85) 15.4 (0.52) 8.0 (0.33) 4.9 (0.29)  
1972 54.9 (0.22) 24.4   (0.80) 91.9 (0.50) 99.2 (0.08) 93.3 (0.28) 97.6 (0.24) 88.9 (0.51) 46.3 (0.84) 10.4 (0.52) 35.9 (0.81) 21.6 (0.46) 31.4 (0.81) 14.8 (0.51) 8.6 (0.34) 4.6 (0.28)  
1973 53.5 (0.22) 24.2   (0.78) 92.5 (0.49) 99.2 (0.08) 92.9 (0.28) 97.5 (0.25) 88.3 (0.52) 42.9 (0.82) 10.0 (0.50) 32.9 (0.78) 20.8 (0.45) 30.1 (0.79) 14.5 (0.50) 8.5 (0.33) 4.5 (0.27)  
1974 53.6 (0.22) 28.8   (0.83) 94.2 (0.43) 99.3 (0.07) 92.9 (0.28) 97.9 (0.23) 87.9 (0.52) 43.1 (0.82) 9.9 (0.49) 33.2 (0.78) 21.4 (0.45) 30.2 (0.77) 15.1 (0.51) 9.6 (0.34) 5.7 (0.29)  
                                                                 
1975 53.7 (0.22) 31.5   (0.87) 94.7 (0.41) 99.3 (0.08) 93.6 (0.27) 98.2 (0.21) 89.0 (0.50) 46.9 (0.81) 10.2 (0.49) 36.7 (0.78) 22.4 (0.45) 31.2 (0.77) 16.2 (0.52) 10.1 (0.34) 6.6 (0.31)  
1976 53.1 (0.22) 31.3   (0.90) 95.5 (0.38) 99.2 (0.09) 93.7 (0.27) 98.2 (0.21) 89.1 (0.50) 46.2 (0.80) 10.2 (0.49) 36.0 (0.77) 23.3 (0.45) 32.0 (0.77) 17.1 (0.52) 10.0 (0.33) 6.0 (0.29)  
1977 52.5 (0.21) 32.0   (0.93) 95.8 (0.38) 99.4 (0.07) 93.7 (0.27) 98.5 (0.19) 88.9 (0.50) 46.2 (0.79) 10.4 (0.49) 35.7 (0.76) 22.9 (0.44) 31.8 (0.75) 16.5 (0.51) 10.8 (0.34) 6.9 (0.30)  
1978 51.2 (0.21) 34.2   (0.94) 95.3 (0.41) 99.1 (0.09) 93.7 (0.27) 98.4 (0.20) 89.1 (0.49) 45.4 (0.79) 9.8 (0.47) 35.6 (0.76) 21.8 (0.43) 29.5 (0.73) 16.3 (0.50) 9.4 (0.32) 6.4 (0.28)  
1979 50.3 (0.21) 35.1   (0.94) 95.8 (0.40) 99.2 (0.09) 93.6 (0.28) 98.1 (0.22) 89.2 (0.49) 45.0 (0.79) 10.3 (0.48) 34.6 (0.76) 21.7 (0.42) 30.2 (0.73) 15.8 (0.49) 9.6 (0.32) 6.4 (0.27)  
                                                                 
1980 49.7 (0.21) 36.7   (0.94) 95.7 (0.40) 99.3 (0.09) 93.4 (0.29) 98.2 (0.22) 89.0 (0.50) 46.4 (0.79) 10.5 (0.49) 35.9 (0.76) 22.3 (0.42) 31.0 (0.74) 16.3 (0.49) 9.3 (0.31) 6.4 (0.27)  
1981 48.9 (0.21) 36.0   (0.92) 94.0 (0.46) 99.2 (0.09) 94.1 (0.27) 98.0 (0.24) 90.6 (0.47) 49.0 (0.80) 11.5 (0.51) 37.5 (0.77) 22.5 (0.42) 31.6 (0.73) 16.5 (0.48) 9.0 (0.29) 6.9 (0.27)  
1982 48.6 (0.22) 36.4   (0.96) 95.0 (0.44) 99.2 (0.10) 94.4 (0.29) 98.5 (0.22) 90.6 (0.51) 47.8 (0.85) 11.3 (0.54) 36.5 (0.82) 23.5 (0.45) 34.0 (0.79) 16.8 (0.50) 9.6 (0.31) 6.3 (0.27)  
1983 48.4 (0.22) 37.5   (0.94) 95.4 (0.42) 99.2 (0.09) 95.0 (0.27) 98.3 (0.23) 91.7 (0.49) 50.4 (0.86) 12.8 (0.57) 37.6 (0.83) 22.7 (0.44) 32.5 (0.79) 16.6 (0.50) 9.6 (0.31) 6.4 (0.27)  
1984 47.9 (0.22) 36.3   (0.92) 94.5 (0.45) 99.2 (0.09) 94.7 (0.28) 97.8 (0.26) 91.5 (0.50) 50.1 (0.88) 11.5 (0.56) 38.6 (0.86) 23.7 (0.45) 33.9 (0.80) 17.3 (0.51) 9.1 (0.30) 6.3 (0.27)  
                                                                 
1985 48.3 (0.22) 38.9   (0.94) 96.1 (0.38) 99.2 (0.09) 94.9 (0.27) 98.1 (0.24) 91.7 (0.49) 51.6 (0.89) 11.2 (0.56) 40.4 (0.88) 24.0 (0.46) 35.3 (0.83) 16.9 (0.51) 9.2 (0.30) 6.1 (0.26)  
1986 48.2 (0.22) 38.9   (0.93) 95.3 (0.41) 99.2 (0.10) 94.9 (0.28) 97.6 (0.28) 92.3 (0.47) 54.6 (0.90) 13.1 (0.61) 41.5 (0.89) 23.6 (0.46) 33.0 (0.83) 17.9 (0.53) 8.8 (0.29) 6.0 (0.25)  
1987 48.6 (0.22) 38.3   (0.93) 95.1 (0.41) 99.5 (0.07) 95.0 (0.28) 98.6 (0.22) 91.7 (0.48) 55.6 (0.89) 13.1 (0.60) 42.5 (0.89) 25.5 (0.48) 38.7 (0.88) 17.5 (0.53) 9.0 (0.30) 5.8 (0.25)  
1988 48.7 (0.24) 38.2   (1.02) 96.0 (0.41) 99.7 (0.07) 95.1 (0.30) 98.9 (0.22) 91.6 (0.55) 55.6 (0.98) 13.9 (0.68) 41.8 (0.97) 26.1 (0.54) 39.1 (0.98) 18.2 (0.60) 8.3 (0.32) 5.9 (0.27)  
1989 49.0 (0.24) 39.1   (1.02) 95.2 (0.45) 99.3 (0.09) 95.7 (0.29) 98.8 (0.22) 92.7 (0.53) 56.0 (0.97) 14.4 (0.69) 41.6 (0.96) 27.0 (0.56) 38.5 (0.99) 19.9 (0.64) 9.3 (0.34) 5.7 (0.26)  
                                                                 
1990 50.2 (0.23) 44.4   (0.98) 96.5 (0.36) 99.6 (0.06) 95.8 (0.28) 99.0 (0.19) 92.5 (0.52) 57.2 (0.94) 14.5 (0.67) 42.7 (0.94) 28.6 (0.54) 39.7 (0.92) 21.0 (0.63) 9.7 (0.33) 5.8 (0.25)  
1991 50.7 (0.23) 40.5   (0.96) 95.4 (0.41) 99.6 (0.06) 96.0 (0.27) 98.8 (0.22) 93.3 (0.49) 59.6 (0.96) 15.6 (0.71) 44.0 (0.97) 30.2 (0.55) 42.0 (0.92) 22.2 (0.64) 10.2 (0.34) 6.2 (0.26)  
1992 51.4 (0.23) 39.7   (0.95) 95.5 (0.41) 99.4 (0.08) 96.7 (0.25) 99.1 (0.18) 94.1 (0.46) 61.4 (0.96) 17.1 (0.74) 44.3 (0.98) 31.6 (0.56) 44.0 (0.95) 23.7 (0.65) 9.8 (0.34) 6.1 (0.26)  
1993 51.8 (0.23) 40.4   (0.93) 95.4 (0.41) 99.5 (0.07) 96.5 (0.25) 98.9 (0.20) 94.0 (0.46) 61.6 (0.95) 17.2 (0.74) 44.4 (0.97) 30.8 (0.56) 42.7 (0.97) 23.6 (0.65) 10.2 (0.35) 5.9 (0.25)  
1994 53.3 (0.23) 47.3 1  (0.94) 96.7 (0.34) 99.4 (0.08) 96.6 (0.22) 98.8 (0.20) 94.4 (0.43) 60.2 (0.94) 16.2 (0.71) 43.9 (0.95) 32.0 (0.55) 44.9 (0.95) 24.0 (0.64) 10.8 (0.36) 6.7 (0.27)  
                                                                 
1995 53.7 (0.23) 48.7 1  (0.94) 96.0 (0.37) 98.9 (0.11) 96.3 (0.23) 98.9 (0.19) 93.6 (0.45) 59.4 (0.93) 16.3 (0.70) 43.1 (0.93) 31.5 (0.56) 44.9 (0.97) 23.2 (0.64) 11.6 (0.37) 5.9 (0.26)  
1996 54.1 (0.22) 48.3 1  (0.91) 94.0 (0.43) 97.7 (0.15) 95.4 (0.26) 98.0 (0.24) 92.8 (0.45) 61.5 (0.87) 16.7 (0.67) 44.9 (0.89) 32.5 (0.55) 44.4 (0.93) 24.8 (0.65) 11.9 (0.36) 6.1 (0.25)  
1997 55.6 (0.22) 52.6 1  (0.92) 96.5 (0.33) 99.1 (0.09) 96.6 (0.22) 98.9 (0.18) 94.3 (0.40) 61.5 (0.86) 16.7 (0.66) 44.7 (0.88) 34.3 (0.55) 45.9 (0.91) 26.4 (0.66) 11.8 (0.36) 5.7 (0.25)  
1998 55.8 (0.22) 52.1 1  (0.92) 95.6 (0.37) 98.9 (0.10) 96.1 (0.24) 98.4 (0.22) 93.9 (0.41) 62.2 (0.84) 15.7 (0.63) 46.4 (0.86) 33.0 (0.55) 44.8 (0.91) 24.9 (0.65) 11.9 (0.37) 6.6 (0.27)  
1999 56.0 (0.22) 54.2 1  (0.93) 96.0 (0.36) 98.7 (0.11) 95.8 (0.24) 98.2 (0.23) 93.6 (0.42) 60.6 (0.84) 16.5 (0.64) 44.1 (0.86) 32.8 (0.54) 45.3 (0.90) 24.5 (0.64) 11.1 (0.36) 6.2 (0.27)  
                                                                 
2000 55.9 (0.22) 52.1 1  (0.93) 95.6 (0.38) 98.2 (0.13) 95.7 (0.25) 98.7 (0.20) 92.8 (0.45) 61.2 (0.84) 16.5 (0.64) 44.7 (0.85) 32.5 (0.53) 44.1 (0.88) 24.6 (0.63) 11.4 (0.37) 6.7 (0.28)  
2001 56.4 (0.20) 52.4 1  (0.88) 95.3 (0.37) 98.3 (0.12) 95.8 (0.24) 98.1 (0.22) 93.4 (0.40) 61.1 (0.79) 17.1 (0.61) 44.0 (0.80) 34.1 (0.50) 46.1 (0.82) 25.5 (0.61) 11.8 (0.36) 6.9 (0.26)  
2002 57.1 (0.20) 56.4 1  (0.87) 95.5 (0.37) 98.3 (0.12) 96.4 (0.22) 98.5 (0.20) 94.4 (0.37) 63.2 (0.78) 17.6 (0.62) 45.7 (0.81) 35.0 (0.50) 48.5 (0.83) 26.0 (0.59) 12.3 (0.36) 6.7 (0.26)  
2003 56.2 (0.20) 55.1 1  (0.85) 94.5 (0.40) 98.3 (0.12) 96.2 (0.21) 97.5 (0.25) 94.9 (0.34) 64.5 (0.80) 17.9 (0.64) 46.6 (0.84) 35.6 (0.50) 48.3 (0.83) 27.8 (0.59) 11.8 (0.34) 6.8 (0.26)  
2004 56.2 (0.20) 54.0 1  (0.85) 95.4 (0.37) 98.4 (0.12) 96.5 (0.21) 98.5 (0.19) 94.5 (0.36) 64.4 (0.80) 16.6 (0.62) 47.8 (0.83) 35.2 (0.49) 48.9 (0.82) 26.3 (0.58) 13.0 (0.35) 6.6 (0.26)  
                                                                 
2005 56.5 (0.20) 53.6 1  (0.86) 95.4 (0.37) 98.6 (0.11) 96.5 (0.20) 98.0 (0.22) 95.1 (0.33) 67.6 (0.79) 18.3 (0.65) 49.3 (0.84) 36.1 (0.49) 48.7 (0.80) 27.3 (0.59) 11.9 (0.34) 6.9 (0.27)  
2006 56.0 (0.20) 55.7 1  (0.86) 94.6 (0.39) 98.3 (0.12) 96.4 (0.21) 98.3 (0.21) 94.6 (0.36) 65.5 (0.77) 19.3 (0.64) 46.2 (0.81) 35.0 (0.49) 47.5 (0.81) 26.7 (0.58) 11.7 (0.33) 7.2 (0.27)  
2007 56.1 (0.20) 54.5 1  (0.86) 94.7 (0.39) 98.4 (0.12) 96.4 (0.21) 98.7 (0.18) 94.3 (0.36) 66.8 (0.75) 17.9 (0.61) 48.9 (0.80) 35.7 (0.49) 48.4 (0.81) 27.3 (0.59) 12.4 (0.33) 7.2 (0.27)  
2008 56.2 (0.20) 52.8 1  (0.85) 93.8 (0.42) 98.7 (0.11) 96.8 (0.20) 98.6 (0.19) 95.2 (0.34) 66.0 (0.75) 17.4 (0.60) 48.6 (0.79) 36.9 (0.49) 50.1 (0.81) 28.2 (0.59) 13.2 (0.34) 7.3 (0.27)  
2009 56.5 (0.20) 52.4 1  (0.85) 94.1 (0.40) 98.2 (0.12) 96.3 (0.22) 98.0 (0.23) 94.6 (0.36) 68.9 (0.73) 19.1 (0.62) 49.8 (0.79) 38.7 (0.50) 51.7 (0.81) 30.4 (0.60) 13.5 (0.34) 8.1 (0.28)  
20102  56.6 (0.17) 53.2 1  (0.89) 94.5 (0.46) 98.0 (0.16) 97.1 (0.21) 98.1 (0.25) 96.1 (0.33) 69.2 (0.92) 18.1 (0.71) 51.2 (1.05) 38.6 (0.71) 52.4 (1.08) 28.9 (0.79) 14.6 (0.47) 8.3 (0.39)  
—Not available.  
†Not applicable.  
1 Preprimary enrollment collected using new procedures. Data may not be comparable to figures for earlier years.  
2 Beginning in 2010, standard errors were computed using replicate weights, which produced more precise values than the methodology used in prior years. For more information, see Appendix A: Guide to Sources.  
NOTE: Data for 1940 are for April. Data for all other years are as of October. Includes enrollment in any type of graded public, parochial, or other private schools. Includes nursery
schools, kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools, colleges, universities, and professional schools. Attendance may be on either a full-time or part-time basis and during the day or night. Enrollments in "special" schools, such as trade schools, business colleges, or correspondence schools, are not included. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970; Current Population Reports, Series P-20, various years; and Current Population Survey (CPS), October, 1970 through 2010. (This table was prepared July 2011.)