Indicator 25: Graduation Rates by Sex

G-20 Countries Included: Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Graduation rates from upper secondary education in 2011 were above 90 percent in four of the G-20 countries reporting data: Japan (96 percent), the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom (93 percent each), and Germany (92 percent).

Graduation rates generally describe the percentage of the pop-ulation that graduated from a given level of education for the first time in a given year. This indicator presents the 2011 first time graduation rates of students in G-20 countries from two levels of education—upper secondary education and academic higher education below the doctoral level—and highlights differences in these rates between males and females.

Graduation rates from upper secondary education were above 90 percent in four of the G-20 countries reporting data: Japan (96 percent), the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom (93 percent), and Germany (92 percent) (figure 25-1). Graduation rates in the remaining reporting G-20 countries ranged from a low of 49 percent in Mexico to 85 percent in Canada, with the U.S. graduation rate at 77 percent. For those G-20 countries with relatively high graduation rates from upper secondary education (i.e., over 90 percent), differences between males and females tended to be relatively small; they ranged from 1 percentage point in Germany, Japan, and the Republic of Korea to 4 percentage points in the United Kingdom. In all of these cases except Germany, females had higher rates than males. Male-female differences also were small, or nonexistent, in two countries with relatively low graduation rates: China (where females had a 2-percentage-point higher rate than males) and Turkey (with no difference). The largest differences in upper secondary graduation rates between males and females were in the United States and Mexico (where females had a 7-percentage-point higher rate than males), followed by Canada and Italy (where females had a 6-percentage-point higher rate than males).

Graduation rates from academic higher education below the doctoral level ranged from a low of 18 percent in Saudi Arabia to a high of 55 percent in the United Kingdom (figure 25-2). Besides the United Kingdom, only Australia had a graduation rate of at least 50 percent from academic higher education below the doctoral level; the graduation rate in the United States was 39 percent. As with upper secondary graduation rates, females' graduation rates from academic higher education below the doctoral level were higher than males' in most G-20 countries. The largest differences were in Australia and Canada (where females' rates were 18 and 17 percentage points higher, respectively, than males'). Differences greater than 10 percentage points were also observed in Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The remaining countries (Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Turkey) had differences of less than 10 percentage points; in two of these countries (Japan and Turkey), males had higher graduation rates from academic higher education than females.

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Definitions and Methodologie

Graduation rates are calculated either as net rates or gross rates. The net graduation rate is calculated by dividing the number of graduates by the population for each single year of age. The gross graduation rate is calculated by dividing the total number of graduates by the population at the typical age of graduation. At the upper secondary level, graduation rates in China, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom are calculated as gross rates (with the graduation rates in Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and the United States calculated as net rates). At the level of academic higher education below the doctoral level, graduation rates in Japan, Turkey, and the United States are calculated as gross rates (with the graduation rates in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom calculated as net rates). Typical graduation ages in these countries—at both the upper secondary education level and the academic higher education below the doctoral level—vary depending on the specifi program type and duration. Please see the education system charts in appendix A for further information on age of graduation.

Mismatches between the coverage of the population data and the graduation data mean that the graduation rates for those countries that are net exporters of students may be underestimated and those that are net importers may be overestimated.

As shown in the figures, education levels are defined according to the 1997 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED97). The graduation rate in upper secondary education includes first-time graduates at ISCED97 level 3. The graduation rate in academic higher education below the doctoral level includes first-time graduates at ISCED97 level 5A. For more information on the ISCED97 levels, see appendix A. The male-female percentage-point differences in graduation rates presented in the text were computed from unrounded numbers; therefore, they may differ from computations made using the rounded whole numbers that appear in figures 25-1 and 25-2.

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