Statizoid

Australia vs United States of America: Average years of schooling

Australia
12.93 years
in 2020
United States of America
13.32 years
in 2020
Australia rank
7th
United States of America rank
4th

Average years of schooling over time

  • Australia
  • United States of America
2.557.51012.5187019452020

How they compare

United States of America currently reports 13.32 years against 12.93 years in Australia, a difference of 0.39 years.

Across all 31 years both countries report, United States of America has been ahead every year.

Australia ranks 7th and United States of America ranks 4th of 111 countries.

United States of America has averaged higher in every one of the 16 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Australia United States of America Difference Ahead
1870s 1.79 years 4.42 years 2.62 years United States of America
1880s 2.23 years 5.03 years 2.8 years United States of America
1890s 2.86 years 5.74 years 2.88 years United States of America
1900s 3.22 years 6.55 years 3.33 years United States of America
1910s 4.08 years 6.87 years 2.79 years United States of America
1920s 5.08 years 7.38 years 2.29 years United States of America
1930s 6.29 years 8.12 years 1.84 years United States of America
1940s 7.25 years 8.8 years 1.55 years United States of America
1950s 8.35 years 8.94 years 0.59 years United States of America
1960s 8.98 years 10.03 years 1.04 years United States of America
1970s 10.46 years 11.41 years 0.96 years United States of America
1980s 11.41 years 12.31 years 0.9 years United States of America
1990s 11.47 years 12.69 years 1.22 years United States of America
2000s 11.54 years 13.05 years 1.52 years United States of America
2010s 12.3 years 13.27 years 0.96 years United States of America
2020s 12.93 years 13.32 years 0.39 years United States of America

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher average years of schooling, Australia or United States of America?
United States of America, at 13.32 years against 12.93 years in Australia as of 2020.
What is the difference in average years of schooling between Australia and United States of America?
0.39 years, with United States of America ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Australia and United States of America?
31 years are reported by both, from 1870 to 2020.
How do Australia and United States of America rank globally for average years of schooling?
Australia ranks 7th and United States of America ranks 4th of 111 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Average years of schooling. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Australia vs United States of America: Average years of schooling. Statizoid, drawing on Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 04 September 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/compare/mean-years-of-schooling-long-run/australia/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://education.statizoid.com/compare/mean-years-of-schooling-long-run/australia/united-states/">Australia vs United States of America: Average years of schooling</a> β€” Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Average years of schooling
Unit
years
Source
Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
111 places, 3,441 data points, 1870–2020
Last refreshed

Average years of formal education for individuals aged 15-64.