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18-Year-Old Attainment: Age

Building a productive and competitive economy is a Government priority and achievement in education is essential to this goal. Education helps New Zealanders develop the skills needed to reach their full potential and contribute to the economy and society.

A Level 2 qualification gives people opportunities in terms of further education and employment, contributing to better health outcomes and a better quality of life.

Identical information is available for the region’s territorial authorities using the drop down menu above. For other territorial authorities first choose the appropriate region from the drop down menu above. This information is not available by school.

18-year-olds with a minimum of NCEA level 2 or equivalent, by the age they left school (2018)
Group Left school at
age 15
Left school at
age 16
Left school at
age 17
Left school at
age 18 or above
Level 2 or above Percentage with Level 2 or above Level 2 or above Percentage with Level 2 or above Level 2 or above Percentage with Level 2 or above Level 2 or above Percentage with Level 2 or above
Female 35 43.8 172 71.4 1,238 95.0 1,279 94.6
Male 30 30.9 173 57.5 1,209 92.5 1,367 92.6
Māori 36 41.9 109 58.9 468 88.0 442 95.5
Pacific 8 22.9 34 53.1 321 88.9 323 87.5
Asian 2 22.2 9 45.0 275 96.5 348 91.6
MELAA 0 0.0 6 54.5 49 89.1 80 81.6
Other 1 50.0 3 42.9 18 90.0 21 91.3
European/Pākehā 34 42.0 234 69.2 1,668 95.8 1,779 95.5
Total 65 36.7 345 63.7 2,447 93.8 2,646 93.6

Notes:

  1. The data in the above table relates only to the cohort of 18 year-olds; the age in the table is the age on their last day at school.
  2. ‘x’ = data has been suppressed where there are between 0 and 5 students in the denominator for a specific group, for example Asian students. Where one gender has been suppressed the corresponding gender has also been suppressed. 'na' = not applicable.
  3. Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
  4. International fee-paying students are excluded.

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