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Very Remote Australia · Remoteness Area

Education & Qualifications in Very Remote Australia

How far people went at school, the qualifications they hold and what they studied.

Certificate III or IV qualifications are the most common achievement in Very Remote Australia, held by 31.7% of adults. This region faces significant educational gaps, with far fewer people finishing high school or earning degrees compared to the rest of the country.

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📍 Very Remote Australia, Remoteness Area

Where Very Remote Australia sits — Adults with a bachelor degree or higher

9.7% ▲ +33.0%

All remoteness area areas, 2021. The marker is Very Remote Australia — lower than 85% of areas.

Very Remote Australia9.7%
Australia 26.3%

Schooling

Highest year of school completed.

Only 33.8% of people here completed Year 12, which is far below the national figure of 58.8%. This is lower than most areas, though the rate did rise by 5.6 points since 2011.

Completed Year 12

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33.8% ▲ +19.8%

Lower than 74% of remoteness area areas.

Share of people whose highest year of school is Year 12 or equivalent.

Highest year of school

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In Very Remote Australia, the largest group is Year 12 at 39%, followed by Year 10 (23%) and Year 11 (20%).

Year 12 33.8% Year 10 19.5% Year 11 17.4% Year 9 or below 15.1%

Qualifications

Post-school qualifications and degrees.

Adults with a bachelor degree or higher make up 9.7% of the population, a figure far below the 26.3% seen across Australia. This is much lower than most areas, despite a 2.4 point increase over the last decade.

Adults with a bachelor degree or higher

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9.7% ▲ +33.0%

Lower than 85% of remoteness area areas.

Share of people aged 15+ whose highest qualification is a bachelor degree or above (incl. graduate and postgraduate).

Highest qualification level

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In Very Remote Australia, the largest group is Certificate III / IV at 49%, followed by Bachelor degree (22%) and Advanced diploma / diploma (17%).

Certificate III / IV 31.7% Bachelor degree 14.4% Advanced diploma / diploma 11.4% Certificate I / II 3.0% Postgraduate degree 2.7% Graduate diploma / certificate 2.0%

Field of study

What people studied.

The most common fields of qualification are engineering and related subjects at 13.9%, followed by education at 10.3% and management and commerce at 9.0%.

Sources

  • Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).

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Cite this page

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Education & Qualifications in Very Remote Australia [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/ra/RA44/very-remote-australia/topic/education