Sovereign and dependent territory rows of the World Bank “School enrollment, tertiary (% gross)” indicator (top 30 by most recent year). Gross ratio includes students outside the standard age range; values can exceed 100%. Aggregates (region.id === “NA”) excluded.
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How to use this chart
Play/Pause starts and stops the year-by-year animation, the year slider jumps to any year, and the speed selector (0.5×, 1×, 2×) changes playback speed. Each year shows the top 12 entries out of the 30 held in the dataset.
About this ranking
About this metric. “Tertiary School Enrollment by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by the World Bank (World Bank indicator code SE.TER.ENRR). Values are expressed in % and cover the gross enrollment ratio for tertiary education (universities, junior colleges, vocational and technical institutions).
What to watch. Watch the steep climbs of Turkey, Argentina and Saudi Arabia — from single digits in the early 1970s to around 100% — as higher education turns from an elite privilege into a mass institution. Japan’s absence from the top 30 is the other conversation starter.
Caveats. The gross ratio counts mature, repeating and out-of-age students in the numerator, so values exceed 100% in societies where higher education is widespread. The extreme top value (Greece) partly reflects enrolment accumulating across multiple years, and differs from the net ratio (NER), which counts only standard-age enrolment. Aggregates (regions, income groups) are excluded.
Trends in the data
The left-hand edge of this series is nearly empty. Only Argentina has a value in 1970, at 13.28%, and there are still just four countries in 1988. Coverage builds to 25 countries in 2006 and 28 in 2020, then falls back to 16 in 2024. The “leader” at the left edge means the leader among one country, and the right edge is a ranking among the sixteen that reported. Always check the size of the field before comparing ranks across years in this indicator.
The 30-country average rose from 13.28% in 1970 to 100.53% in 2024, with a minimum of 9.17% in 1973. An average crossing 100% in fifty years means that within these 30 countries, tertiary education has gone from something a minority proceeds to into something most people pass through. Bear in mind, though, that gross enrolment counts students outside the official age band in the numerator, so 100% does not mean everyone is enrolled.
How far countries grew varies enormously. Türkiye went from 4.94% in 1971 to 105.89% in 2023, Saudi Arabia from 2.79% in 1971 to 83.88% in 2024, and Argentina from 13.28% in 1970 to 107.82% — increases of twenty to thirty times in half a century. In 2006 the leader, South Korea, was at 99.95% while the bottom of the field included Malta at 31.23%, Albania 26.21% and Saudi Arabia 24.51%; in 2024 even last-placed Poland is at 80.91%.
The 2024 leaders are Macao at 141.86%, Cyprus 120.88%, Hong Kong 120.09%, South Korea 111.85% and Finland 110.30%. Small territories cluster at the top partly because taking in students from outside inflates the numerator alone. Japan is not among these 30 — its gross tertiary enrolment stays in the 60s — so the impression of a “high university-entrance country” and its rank on this indicator diverge considerably. Reading it correctly means keeping the difference between gross and net enrolment firmly in mind.
Trivia quiz
In Japan's school system, which stage does "tertiary education" correspond to?
Universities, junior colleges, colleges of technology and vocational schools — the stage after upper-secondary (high school). It is ISCED level 5 and above. (Source)
Why can the gross enrolment ratio (GER) exceed 100%?
Because repeating, mature and out-of-age students are counted in the numerator; the net ratio (NER) counts only standard-age enrolment. (Source)
What does the sociology of education call the shift to mass participation in higher education?
The move from elite to mass to universal higher education (Martin Trow): elite below 15% enrolment, mass at 15–50%, universal above 50%. (Source)
Source
World Bank — School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) (SE.TER.ENRR)