Indicators Live: Education at a Glance 2009, Results for New Zealand

7. How educated are we?

7.1 Educational attainment: adult population

Education plays a key role in providing individuals with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to participate effectively in society and its economy (OECD, 2009). This indicator measures the educational attainment of the adult¹¹ population as captured through formal educational qualifications. As such, this indicator provides a proxy for the knowledge and skills available to national economies and societies. It is assumed that the higher the proportion of adult population with tertiary qualifications, the richer the country is in terms of its human capital.

This is an established indicator in Education at a Glance and, from year to year, the changes in educational attainment of such a wide adult population group are mostly due to the changes in the educational attainment of younger cohorts. Nevertheless, the longitudinal history in this indicator tells an interesting story.

The proportion of adult population with tertiary qualifications in New Zealand has increased rapidly since 2004, compared to a steady increase for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the OECD average. Figure 32 shows the proportion of adult population with tertiary qualification in selected countries and the OECD average in 2007.

Figure 32. The percentage of the 25-64 year-old population with tertiary education as a highest attainment in 2007

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance, Table A1.1a

In 2007, the proportion of adult population with tertiary qualifications in New Zealand increased from 39 percent in 2006 to 41 percent, which is far above the OECD average of 27 percent. In 2007, only two OECD countries had a higher percentage of the adult population with tertiary education than New Zealand, namely Canada and Japan.

The percentage of adults with upper secondary education¹² as their highest level of education has substantially decreased since 2003. This is a consequence of the proportion of adults with tertiary qualifications increasing over the same period. Figure 33 shows the composition of New Zealand’s adult population aged 25 to 64 years since 2003 by highest level of educational attainment.

Figure 33. Composition of the 25-64 year-old population in New Zealand by highest level of educational attainment from 2003 to 2007

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance, Table A1.4

New Zealand compares favourably with the OECD average: New Zealand has a lower percentage of the adult population with below upper secondary education (21 percent) compared with the OECD average of 31 percent; and over 40 percent of the New Zealand adult population has attained a tertiary qualification. Figure 34 shows how New Zealand compares to the OECD average on this indicator.

Figure 34. Proportion of New Zealand’s 25-64 year-old population by highest level of educational attainment in 2007 compared with OECD average

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance, Table A1.1a.

Figure 35 compares educational attainment of the New Zealand adult population with that of selected OECD countries in 2007. The United Kingdom stands out among the five countries, with a majority of adults having attained an upper secondary education qualification (54 percent); the proportion of its population with tertiary education qualifications is not as high as in New Zealand. Australia and Ireland have similar distributions, with approximately a third of their population in each of the three qualification categories.

While the attainment of the population cannot change rapidly, New Zealand has a high level of migration internationally, both inward and outward. This can impact on both the level of qualifications and the skills of the population.

Figure 35. Distribution of the 25-64 year-old population by highest level of education attained (2007)

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance 2009, Table A1.4

7.2 Annual average growth in 25 to 64 year-old population with tertiary qualifications between 1998 and 2006

This is a new indicator, introduced for the first time in Education at a Glance 2009. The annual average growth rate of the adult population with tertiary education was positive for all OECD countries between 1998 and 2006. New Zealand’s growth rate of 5.1 percent is well above the OECD average of 4.5 percent per year. New Zealand compares favourably with Australia, where the average growth in the adult population with tertiary education has been 4.5 percent per year, and performed better on this indicator than the United Kingdom (3.7 percent) and the United States (3 percent). On the other hand, the New Zealand population with tertiary education did not grow as fast as that in Ireland, where the adult population with tertiary education experienced a growth rate of 7.7 percent per year (see Figure 36).

From 1998 to 2006, New Zealand has, on average, experienced a 0.4 percent annual decrease in the adult population with upper secondary education, reflecting a rise in tertiary qualifications over that period. This compares to an OECD average annual increase of 1.9 percent. Apart from New Zealand, the only countries that also experienced a drop were Poland, Iceland, Denmark and Germany. In the remaining OECD countries, the adult population with upper secondary education grew. Figure 37 shows that the United States and the United Kingdom had a growth rate of below one percent.

Figure 36. Annual average growth rate in the 25-64 year-old population in tertiary education between 1998 and 2006

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance, Table A1.5

Figure 37. Annual average growth rate in the 25-64 year-old population in upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education between 1998 and 2006

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance, Table A1.5

On average, New Zealand’s adult population with less than upper secondary education also declined during the period from 1998 to 2006 by a rate of 2.0 percent per year, which is comparable to the OECD average (refer to Figure 38). For New Zealand such a decrease was offset by the growth in adult population with tertiary qualification.

Figure 38. Annual average growth rate in the 25-64 year-old population below upper secondary education between 1998 and 2006

Source: OECD (2009), Education at Glance, Table A1.5