Participation in education

International comparisons

In New Zealand a smaller proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 participate in education than in most other developed countries.

For young people aged 15 to 19, New Zealand ranked 29 out of 30 developed countries on this measure in 2005. Educational participation rates of young people aged 20 to 24 in New Zealand in 2005 were lower than 20 out of 29 developed countries.(1)

Notes

1. OECD Education at a Glance 2007 (see link at right). Note that the figures used in the Education at a Glance 2007 publication differ to current Ministry of Education figures for two reasons:

  1. The OECD population estimates in the 2007 Education at a Glance publication were taken from Statistics New Zealand counts and estimates based on Census 2001, whereas Ministry of Education data uses those based on Census 2006.
  2. The OECD figures contain an error in data for 15-19 year olds, since amended in Ministry of Education data, whereby some secondary-school students engaged in tertiary level courses were included in tertiary statistics for 2005 only.