Share of the population with at least some formal education in New Zealand
New Zealand: Share of the population with at least some formal education was 98.3% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of the population with at least some formal education in New Zealand, 1870–2020
Source: Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2020, share of the population with at least some formal education in New Zealand stood at 98.3%.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the population with at least some formal education in New Zealand peaked at 99.9% in 1990 and was at its lowest, 70.9%, in 1870.
That places New Zealand 36th out of 111 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 71.6% | 70.9% | 72.3% | 2 |
| 1880s | 76.4% | 74.6% | 78.2% | 2 |
| 1890s | 82.8% | 81.2% | 84.4% | 2 |
| 1900s | 88.7% | 87.1% | 90.2% | 2 |
| 1910s | 92.2% | 91.1% | 93.2% | 2 |
| 1920s | 95.2% | 94.8% | 95.7% | 2 |
| 1930s | 97.3% | 97.0% | 97.7% | 2 |
| 1940s | 97.8% | 97.7% | 98.0% | 2 |
| 1950s | 98.4% | 98.3% | 98.5% | 2 |
| 1960s | 98.2% | 98.1% | 98.4% | 2 |
| 1970s | 98.9% | 98.3% | 99.5% | 2 |
| 1980s | 99.5% | 99.3% | 99.7% | 2 |
| 1990s | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 2 |
| 2000s | 99.8% | 99.8% | 99.9% | 2 |
| 2010s | 98.8% | 98.6% | 98.9% | 2 |
| 2020s | 98.3% | 98.3% | 98.3% | 1 |
Countries ranked near New Zealand
More education data for New Zealand
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 5 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.9% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 11 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 96.7% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 26,597 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.66 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 96.8% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the population with at least some formal education in New Zealand?
- Share of the population with at least some formal education in New Zealand was 98.3% in 2020, according to Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of the population with at least some formal education recorded in New Zealand?
- The highest recorded value was 99.9% in 1990.
- What is the lowest share of the population with at least some formal education recorded in New Zealand?
- The lowest recorded value was 70.9% in 1870.
- How does New Zealand rank for share of the population with at least some formal education?
- New Zealand ranks 36th out of 111 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of the population with at least some formal education rising or falling in New Zealand?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this New Zealand data come from?
- The figures come from Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of the population with at least some formal education. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Based on the population aged 15 years and older.