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Digest of Education Statistics
2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 603.10. Percentage of the population 25 to 64 years old who completed high school, by age group and country: Selected years, 2000 through 2020
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Country 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 2020
Total,
    25 to 64 years old
25 to 34 years old Total,
    25 to 64 years old
25 to 34 years old Total,
    25 to 64 years old
25 to 34 years old Total,
    25 to 64 years old
25 to 34 years old Total,
    25 to 64 years old
25 to 34 years old Total,
    25 to 64 years old
25 to 34 years old 35 to 44 years old 45 to 54 years old 55 to 64 years old
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
OECD average1 64.5 74.4 70.1 78.2 73.8   (0.10) 80.6   (0.18) 75.8   (0.04) 82.3   (0.08) 78.6   (0.04) 84.5   (0.07) 80.4   (0.04) 86.1   (0.07) 83.1   (0.07) 79.1   (0.07) 72.7   (0.08)
Australia 58.8 68.3 65.0 78.6 73.2   (0.41) 84.8   (0.64) 79.0   (0.25) 88.1   (0.39) 82.9   (0.23) 90.5   (0.36) 83.8   (0.23) 90.9   (0.37) 89.8   (0.37) 80.9   (0.50) 70.6   (0.59)
Austria2 --- --- 76.9 85.6 82.4   (0.12) 87.8   (0.23) 84.6   (0.12) 90.0   (0.22) 85.6   (0.11) 89.4   (0.22) 85.7   (0.11) 89.1   (0.22) 87.8   (0.22) 85.2   (0.21) 80.9   (0.24)
Belgium 58.5 75.3 66.1 80.9 70.5   (0.60) 82.1   (1.02) 74.7   (0.19) 82.5   (0.35) 78.7   (0.14) 85.2   (0.27) 79.8   (0.14) 85.8   (0.27) 84.5   (0.26) 80.1   (0.27) 68.9   (0.31)
Canada2,3 80.7 88.3 85.2 90.8 88.3   (0.12) 92.1   (0.19) 90.4   (0.11) 93.3   (0.17) 91.9   (0.11) 94.0   (0.18) 92.4   (0.12) 94.7   (0.18) 94.6   (0.19) 92.9   (0.20) 87.8   (0.25)
Chile --- --- --- --- ---   (†) ---   (†) 64.9   (0.13) 83.2   (0.20) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†)

Colombia
--- --- --- --- ---   (†) ---   (†) 50.4   (0.08) 66.9   (0.14) 56.7   (0.08) 72.3   (0.13) 58.8   (0.09) 74.0   (0.14) 63.8   (0.17) 48.2   (0.18) 37.3   (0.19)
Costa Rica2 30.4 32.3 35.1 38.5 36.9   (0.44) 44.9   (0.80) 39.4   (0.43) 48.6   (0.78) 42.7   (0.44) 53.6   (0.81) 42.7   (0.47) 55.9   (0.88) 42.6   (0.91) 33.6   (0.91) 36.0   (0.97)
Czech Republic 85.9 92.4 89.9 93.9 91.9 4 (0.35) 94.2 4 (0.57) 93.2   (0.07) 93.7   (0.16) 93.8   (0.08) 93.0   (0.18) 94.1   (0.08) 92.4   (0.19) 95.2   (0.14) 95.2   (0.13) 92.8   (0.16)
Denmark2 79.8 86.9 81.0 87.4 76.7   (0.18) 79.9   (0.44) 79.7   (0.17) 81.8   (0.38) 81.6   (0.17) 82.4   (0.38) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†)
Estonia2 85.2 91.4 88.7 87.3 89.1   (0.30) 86.5   (0.73) 88.6   (0.28) 87.7   (0.60) 90.1   (0.24) 88.5   (0.56) 90.7   (0.23) 89.0   (0.54) 89.5   (0.47) 91.7   (0.41) 92.6   (0.40)

Finland2
73.2 86.3 78.8 89.4 83.0 4 (0.70) 90.8 4 (1.10) 87.2   (0.21) 89.5   (0.42) 90.3   (0.12) 91.3   (0.24) 91.2   (0.12) 92.6   (0.23) 93.6   (0.21) 91.8   (0.23) 87.0   (0.26)
France2 62.2 76.4 66.8 81.5 70.8 4 (0.25) 83.8 4 (0.42) 77.5   (0.08) 86.5   (0.15) 80.4   (0.08) 87.4   (0.16) 81.5   (0.09) 88.1   (0.17) 85.8   (0.16) 81.1   (0.17) 71.7   (0.19)
Germany 81.7 84.9 83.1 84.1 85.8 4 (0.17) 86.5 4 (0.35) 86.8   (0.06) 87.3   (0.12) 86.7   (0.05) 86.9   (0.11) 86.1   (0.06) 86.8   (0.13) 85.9   (0.13) 85.7   (0.12) 86.1   (0.11)
Greece 49.3 68.7 57.7 74.4 62.7 4 (0.12) 75.5 4 (0.22) 70.2   (0.13) 83.6   (0.24) 74.0   (0.13) 87.5   (0.25) 76.4   (0.14) 89.9   (0.26) 82.2   (0.25) 76.0   (0.25) 59.3   (0.28)
Hungary2 69.2 81.3 76.4 85.0 81.3 4 (0.52) 86.3 4 (0.90) 83.2   (0.10) 86.0   (0.21) 85.0   (0.11) 87.3   (0.24) 85.6   (0.11) 87.6   (0.24) 87.8   (0.21) 84.9   (0.21) 81.6   (0.23)

Iceland2
--- --- 68.2 70.9 69.1   (0.49) 71.4   (0.93) 73.4   (0.48) 73.3   (0.98) 75.9   (0.46) 78.3   (0.95) 75.9   (0.45) 77.1   (0.90) 80.2   (0.83) 76.5   (0.89) 68.8   (0.96)
Ireland 57.3 73.0 64.5 81.1 72.8 4 (0.89) 85.6 4 (1.26) 79.8   (0.13) 90.8   (0.19) 83.7   (0.14) 92.6   (0.23) 85.5   (0.14) 93.5   (0.25) 91.4   (0.22) 84.1   (0.27) 70.1   (0.36)
Israel --- --- 78.9 85.5 82.1 4 (0.65) 88.1 4 (0.98) 85.5 4 (0.58) 91.2 4 (0.85) 87.1   (0.07) 91.5   (0.11) 88.0   (0.07) 91.5   (0.11) 90.1   (0.12) 86.5   (0.15) 81.8   (0.19)
Italy 42.1 56.4 50.1 65.9 55.2 4 (0.27) 71.0 4 (0.53) 59.9   (0.09) 74.4   (0.19) 62.2   (0.09) 76.2   (0.20) 62.9   (0.09) 77.4   (0.20) 68.8   (0.19) 58.6   (0.17) 51.2   (0.18)
Japan --- --- --- --- ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†)

Korea, Republic of
68.2 93.2 75.6 97.3 80.9 4 (0.23) 97.9 4 (0.17) 85.8 4 (0.20) 98.3 4 (0.15) 88.7 4 (0.18) 97.8 4 (0.18) 89.4 4 (0.18) 98.0 4 (0.39) 97.9 4 (0.16) 93.7 4 (0.26) 69.0 4 (0.52)
Latvia2 83.2 88.7 84.4 80.4 88.6   (0.23) 83.7   (0.57) 87.8   (0.23) 84.9   (0.56) 88.4   (0.23) 88.5   (0.52) 89.5   (0.22) 89.2   (0.50) 84.8   (0.54) 90.6   (0.40) 93.0   (0.32)
Lithuania 84.2 91.8 87.5 86.8 91.9   (0.14) 88.3   (0.41) 91.4   (0.16) 89.7   (0.43) 93.3   (0.14) 93.0   (0.35) 93.6   (0.14) 92.5   (0.38) 90.1   (0.38) 95.4   (0.23) 95.9   (0.20)
Luxembourg 60.9 68.2 65.9 76.5 77.7 4 (2.46) 84.0 4 (4.28) 74.6   (0.33) 84.5   (0.59) 75.1   (0.59) 86.7   (0.91) 74.2   (0.59) 86.5   (0.93) 79.9   (1.05) 66.1   (1.26) 57.4   (1.36)
Mexico2 29.1 37.1 28.2 33.7 32.1   (0.11) 38.3   (0.20) 35.7   (0.11) 45.0   (0.21) 39.8   (0.11) 51.3   (0.21) 41.6   (0.12) 53.9   (0.22) 41.1   (0.23) 35.7   (0.23) 31.0   (0.26)

Netherlands
64.9 74.3 71.8 81.3 73.0 4 (0.46) 82.7 4 (0.84) 76.4 4 (0.45) 85.6 4 (0.77) 79.6   (0.08) 87.6   (0.14) 81.0   (0.08) 89.4   (0.15) 85.2   (0.17) 80.1   (0.16) 70.5   (0.17)
New Zealand --- --- --- --- ---   (†) ---   (†) 74.7 4 (0.89) 81.0 4 (1.60) 80.7   (0.28) 86.6   (0.48) 80.9   (0.28) 86.7   (0.48) 83.9   (0.53) 79.7   (0.56) 72.0   (0.64)
Norway2 --- --- 77.2 83.5 80.6 4 (0.77) 82.9 4 (1.50) 82.4   (0.17) 81.3   (0.35) 82.5   (0.16) 82.6   (0.32) 82.5   (0.16) 82.6   (0.32) 84.4   (0.31) 84.8   (0.29) 77.6   (0.35)
Poland 79.9 89.4 85.1 92.0 88.5 4 (0.22) 93.6 4 (0.31) 90.8 4 (0.20) 93.9 4 (0.31) 92.6   (0.07) 94.0   (0.15) 93.2   (0.07) 93.8   (0.15) 95.3   (0.11) 93.1   (0.14) 90.4   (0.14)
Portugal2 19.4 31.8 26.5 42.8 31.9 4 (0.61) 52.1 4 (1.30) 45.1   (0.17) 66.7   (0.39) 52.2   (0.18) 75.2   (0.41) 55.4   (0.20) 79.0   (0.46) 64.4   (0.41) 48.8   (0.36) 35.0   (0.34)

Slovak Republic
83.8 93.7 87.9 92.8 91.0 4 (0.51) 94.1 4 (0.78) 91.3   (0.25) 92.8   (0.49) 91.2   (0.26) 90.6   (0.62) 92.5   (0.25) 92.4   (0.58) 93.3   (0.49) 93.5   (0.46) 90.5   (0.49)
Slovenia 74.8 85.4 80.3 91.2 83.3 4 (1.08) 93.5 4 (1.41) 86.8   (0.18) 94.1   (0.27) 88.8 4 (0.93) 95.1 4 (1.36) 90.2   (0.16) 95.6   (0.26) 93.5   (0.28) 89.0   (0.32) 84.0   (0.37)
Spain2 38.6 55.6 48.8 64.5 52.9   (0.08) 65.3   (0.16) 57.4   (0.08) 65.6   (0.19) 61.3   (0.08) 69.8   (0.19) 62.9   (0.09) 71.7   (0.20) 69.1   (0.16) 61.4   (0.16) 50.2   (0.16)
Sweden 77.6 87.3 83.6 90.6 86.3   (0.08) 90.8   (0.14) 82.0   (0.10) 82.3   (0.20) 83.6   (0.14) 83.7   (0.28) 83.9   (0.13) 84.1   (0.27) 82.9   (0.26) 87.1   (0.23) 81.1   (0.27)
Switzerland 83.9 89.8 85.2 89.8 85.0   (0.12) 87.8   (0.26) 87.3   (0.11) 91.0   (0.24) 89.0   (0.11) 93.7   (0.21) 89.3   (0.11) 94.0   (0.21) 89.3   (0.22) 87.9   (0.21) 86.0   (0.23)

Turkey
23.3 27.7 28.1 36.8 31.2 4 (0.25) 42.2 4 (0.45) 37.0 4 (0.24) 52.1 4 (0.44) 41.7 4 (0.24) 59.1 4 (0.43) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†)
United Kingdom5 62.6 66.8 66.8 73.1 75.1 4 (0.24) 82.9 4 (0.41) 79.6   (0.18) 86.2   (0.33) 80.1   (0.19) 85.4   (0.36) 81.7   (0.20) 87.5   (0.38) 86.0   (0.37) 78.9   (0.41) 73.8   (0.42)
United States2 87.4 88.2 87.8 86.7 89.0   (0.10) 88.4   (0.19) 89.5   (0.10) 90.5   (0.18) 90.8   (0.10) 92.8   (0.17) 91.7   (0.10) 94.0   (0.17) 91.3   (0.19) 90.9   (0.20) 90.4   (0.21)

Other reporting
    countries
                                                                         
China2 --- --- --- --- 24.5   (---) 35.7   (---) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†)
Russian Federation2 --- --- --- --- 92.8   (0.03) 92.6   (0.07) 93.7   (0.03) 93.5   (0.06) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†)
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
1 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, to which each country reporting data contributes equally. The average includes all current OECD countries for which a given year's data are available, even if they were not members of OECD in that year. Standard errors for the OECD average were estimated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
2 Although all data for years prior to 2015 were originally calculated using the 1997 version of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), the footnoted countries revised earlier years' data to align with the 2011 version of ISCED, which is the most recent. Most of these countries revised all of their data for years prior to 2015. The exceptions are Denmark (which revised only 2010 data), Mexico (which revised only 2005 and 2010 data), and Spain (which revised only 2010 data).
3 All standard errors shown for Canada were calculated by Statistics Canada.
4 Standard errors were estimated by NCES.
5 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.
NOTE: The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) was revised in 2011. Unless otherwise noted, all data for years prior to 2015 were calculated using the previous version, ISCED 1997. ISCED 2011 was used to calculate all data for 2015 and later years. Except where otherwise noted, data in this table refer to degrees classified under ISCED 2011 as completing level 3 (upper secondary education) or to comparable degrees under ISCED 1997. For more information on OECD and NCES estimation methodology used for this table, see the "Online Education Database" section of the entry for OECD in Appendix A: Guide to Sources. Standard errors for 2000 and 2005 have been excluded due to limited data availability. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Online Education Database, retrieved September 16, 2021, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects 2019. (This table was prepared September 2021.)

2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest