MOST EDUCATED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Education is the one that determines the success of an individual as well as a nation. The resulting data was acquired in 2019, which is the latest available, includes the percentage of both sexes, aged between 25 and 34 years old.

1. South Korea (69.8%)

Almost every youth in South Korea possesses an upper secondary qualification, with an above average employment rate. A minimum of 90% of 3-17 years old, 87% 15-19 years old and 50% of 20-24 years old were enrolled in education. It is also found that the country spends more on education than the OECD average at primary and tertiary levels. Private expenditure is higher than public expenditure.

2. Canada (63%)

One quarter of 25-34 years old had completed a short cycle tertiary programme and about the same proportion had completed a bachelor's degree, but only about 10% would have completed a masters or doctoral degree, against the OECD average of 15%.

3. Russia (62.1%)

As per the OECD report Russia has a well educated population, spending on tertiary education remains surprisingly below the OECD average. Their expenditure per student at tertiary level was $8,479 in 2016 which is much below the OECD average of $15,556.

4. Japan (61.5%)

The OECD report says that while Japan has a well developed tertiary education system, it's students are "rather homogeneous". Over half of 25-64 years old had attended tertiary education in 2018, with 13% points higher than the OECD average. Japan has relatively low shares of adult and international students compared to OECd countries.

5. Ireland (55.4%)

According to the OECD, good employment prospects and completion rates have enabled high levels of educational attainment in Ireland. Nearly half of the adults (25-64 years old) in Ireland (47%) have earned a tertiary qualification , one of the largest shares across the OECD countries.

6. Lithuania (55.2%)

Tertiary educational attainment levels have increased in the past decades and tertiary educated adults have strong employment opportunities. Lithuania spendd$7,700 per tertiary student compared to the OECD average of$14,600.

Selected other countries at a glance: (T = Tertiary, US = Upper Secondary and BUS = Below Upper Secondary. All in percentage)

USA -  T 46.36, US 44.29, BUS 9.3

UK - T 45.74, US 35.42, BUS 18.8

Australia - 45.36, 35.63, 19.01

France - 35.21, 43.17, 21.62

Italy - 18.67, 42.25,; 39.08

India

Percentage of population age 25-64 with tertiary education (2011) -

10.6

About 10 percent of the total population of 1.39 billion, get advanced education. Most of such people have come from private schools. An overwhelming number of students in India are looking for higher studies in other countries.

What India urgently needs in the educational sector is a revamping of the fundamental education. We  must immediately find answers to the following issues.

1. Why India is one of the most corrupt countries in the world?

2. Why India is one of the most indisciplined countries in the world?

3. Why we fail to provide total safety for women in our country?

We must address these three major issues through education.

K V George

OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)

(Indebted to Newsweek report by Tom Fish dated 20.06.21, for all data shown above.)