58.8% ▲ +19.5%
- 2011: 49.2%
- 2016: 53.8%
- 2021: 58.8%
Share of people whose highest year of school is Year 12 or equivalent.
Australia · Australia
Education & Qualifications in Australia
How far people went at school, the qualifications they hold and what they studied.
More Australians have attained higher levels of learning since 2011, with a significant rise in both school and university completion. Across Australia, 58.8% of people have now finished Year 12 and over a quarter of adults hold a bachelor degree or higher.
Schooling
Highest year of school completed.
Year 12 completion rates rose by 9.6 percentage points since 2011 to reach 58.8%. Other common highest school years include Year 10 at 17.4% and Year 9 or below at 9.1%.
Highest year of school
View on map →In Australia, Year 12 is the majority at 63%; Year 10 is next at 19%.
Qualifications
Post-school qualifications and degrees.
The share of adults with a bachelor degree or higher climbed 7.5 percentage points since 2011 to 26.3%. Bachelor degrees are the most common high-level qualification at 27.5%, followed by Certificate III or IV at 25.4%.
26.3% ▲ +39.7%
- 2011: 18.8%
- 2016: 22.0%
- 2021: 26.3%
Share of people aged 15+ whose highest qualification is a bachelor degree or above (incl. graduate and postgraduate).
Highest qualification level
View on map →Australia splits fairly evenly between Bachelor degree (33%) and Certificate III / IV (30%), with Advanced diploma / diploma at 18%.
Field of study
What people studied.
Management and commerce are the most popular fields of study at 19.5%. Engineering and related fields follow at 13.6%, with society and culture at 12.1%.
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Australia
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Education & Qualifications in Australia [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/aus/AUS/australia/topic/education