EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Indicator 11: Education Attainment

The education attainment of a country's population reflects the availability of education in the country and provides an indirect measure of the country's commitment to the skills development of its citizens. Because many working-age adults completed their education years ago, the indicator is influenced by changes over time in the characteristics of an education system. Countries that have undergone major expansions in education only in recent years will still have a large proportion of relatively uneducated adults.

Of the G-7 countries for which data were available in 1992, the United States, Canada, and Germany had the highest proportion of adults aged 25-64 having completed at least upper secondary education (roughly equivalent to high school in the United States).* At least 70 percent of U.S., Canadian, and German adults 25-64 years of age had completed at least upper secondary education. Among Italians aged 25-64, 28 percent completed at least upper secondary education. Of the other countries listed in the table, only Czechoslovakian, Norwegian, Swiss, and Swedish adults attained levels of upper secondary education comparable to those of the United States and Germany.
Of the G-7 countries, Canada and the United States had, by far, the highest proportion of 25- to 64-year-olds having completed higher education (41 and 31 percent, respectively). Less than 25 percent of the 25- to 64-year-olds in the other G-7 countries and the remaining countries listed in the table (with the exception of Norway) had completed this level. In fact, only 6 percent of 25- to 64-year-olds in Italy completed higher education.

*For further explanation of the levels of education, see the sidebar entitled ISCED levels of education

Table 11: Percentage of the population 2564 years of age that has completed a specific highest level of education, by country: 1992


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			Lower
			secondary	Upper 		Higher
Country			and below	secondary	education
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G-7
Canada			29		30		41
France			48		36		16
Germany			18		60		22
Italy                   72              22               6
Japan1			30		48		21
United Kingdom		32		49		19
United States		16		53		31
Other
Australia2		47		30		23
Austria                 32              61               7
Belgium			55		25		20
Czechoslovakia3		27		63		10
Denmark			41		40		19
Finland			39		43		18
Ireland			58		25		17
Netherlands		42		37		21
New Zealand		43		33		24
Norway 			21		54		25
Portugal                86               7               7
Spain			77		10		13
Sweden 			30		46		24
Switzerland		19		60		21
Turkey                  86               9               5
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1/ 1989 data. Row values do not total 100 since 1 percent were classified as "other."
2/ 1993 data.
3/ 1991 data.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 11 for details on indicator calculation for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.

Figure 11: Percentage of the population 25-64 years of age that has completed a specific highest level of education, by G-7 country: 1992

1/ Countries are sorted in descending order by the percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds having completed upper secondary, or higher education.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.

See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Tables

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