Australia vs New Zealand: Average years of schooling vs. expected years of schooling

Australia

12.87 years

in 2023

New Zealand

12.88 years

in 2023

Australia rank

21st

New Zealand rank

20th

Average years of schooling vs. expected years of schooling over time

New Zealand currently reports 12.88 years against 12.87 years in Australia, a difference of 0.013 years.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 34 shared years of data; in 1990 it was Australia ahead.

Australia ranks 21st and New Zealand ranks 20th of 192 countries.

Indicator: Average years of schooling vs. expected years of schooling
Unit: years
Source: UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 192 places, 6,079 data points, 1990–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Average number of years (excluding years spent repeating individual grades) adults over 25 years participated in formal education.