Japan vs New Zealand: Share of the population with tertiary education
Japan
47.2%
in 2020
New Zealand
39.8%
in 2020
Japan rank
8th
New Zealand rank
9th
Share of the population with tertiary education over time
- Japan
- New Zealand
How they compare
Japan currently reports 47.2% against 39.8% in New Zealand, a difference of 7.4%.
That makes Japan's figure about 1.2 times New Zealand's.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 31 shared years of data; in 1870 it was New Zealand ahead.
Japan ranks 8th and New Zealand ranks 9th of 111 countries.
Across the 16 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 6 and New Zealand in 10.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | New Zealand | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | New Zealand |
| 1880s | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.2% | New Zealand |
| 1890s | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.3% | New Zealand |
| 1900s | 0.1% | 0.7% | 0.6% | New Zealand |
| 1910s | 0.4% | 0.8% | 0.4% | New Zealand |
| 1920s | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.3% | New Zealand |
| 1930s | 2.4% | 2.3% | 0.1% | Japan |
| 1940s | 3.8% | 3.1% | 0.7% | Japan |
| 1950s | 5.4% | 4.3% | 1.1% | Japan |
| 1960s | 6.5% | 5.2% | 1.3% | Japan |
| 1970s | 9.0% | 17.4% | 8.4% | New Zealand |
| 1980s | 18.0% | 32.7% | 14.7% | New Zealand |
| 1990s | 26.0% | 41.7% | 15.8% | New Zealand |
| 2000s | 34.4% | 42.9% | 8.4% | New Zealand |
| 2010s | 42.4% | 40.0% | 2.4% | Japan |
| 2020s | 47.2% | 39.8% | 7.4% | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher share of the population with tertiary education, Japan or New Zealand?
- Japan, at 47.2% against 39.8% in New Zealand as of 2020.
- What is the difference in share of the population with tertiary education between Japan and New Zealand?
- 7.4%, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and New Zealand?
- 31 years are reported by both, from 1870 to 2020.
- How do Japan and New Zealand rank globally for share of the population with tertiary education?
- Japan ranks 8th and New Zealand ranks 9th 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 Share of the population with tertiary education. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Percentage of the population aged 25 to 65 years who have either completed or partially completed tertiary education.