The Best Education on Earth - Part II: The Education Index

Last month I discussed the PISA test, which surveyed fifteen-year-olds of varying nationalities to determine national educational quality. This study was limited by the narrow age range of participants as well as the specificity of topics tested for. As such, I decided see what other educational metrics could be used to measure national educational quality.

One important metric in education is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is computed annually by the United Nations (UN). The HDI is designed to rank countries according to their human development based on three categories: (1) education, (2) life expectancy, and (3) Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the large English speaking countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States of America), HDI scores are generally high, with Australia in 2nd place, Canada in 4th, the USA in 13th, New Zealand in 20th and the UK in 21st. Of the three variables accounted for in the index, the one that I am going to discuss here is the education portion.

THE EDUCATION INDEX

The education index is measured by two factors; adult literacy rate, and educational achievement. Literacy rates refers to the ability of adults to read and to write, this factor accounts for 2/3 of the total educational mark. The second factor is educational achievement, which refers to the average attainment of education from kindergarten to post secondary education, this factor accounting for 1/3 of the total mark.

The following are the 50 highest ranked countries in the education index. This index covers 2006 to December 2008 when it was published. The highest possible score is '1', indicating perfect education attainment. Countries considered to be "developed" possess a minimum score of 0.8, although the great majority have a 0.9 or above.

Rank	Country	Education Index
1	Australia	.993
1	Denmark	.993
1	Finland	.993
1	New Zealand	.993
5	Canada	.991
6	Norway	.989
7	South Korea	.988
8	Ireland	.985
8	Netherlands	.985
10	Greece	.980
10	Iceland	.980
12	France	.978
13	Cuba	.976
14	Luxembourg	.975
15	Belgium	.974
15	Sweden	.974
17	Spain	.971
18	Slovenia	.969
19	Lithuania	.968
19	United States	.968
21	Kazakhstan	.966
22	Italy	.965
23	Estonia	.964
24	Austria	.962
25	Latvia	.961
26	Hungary	.960
27	Belarus	.958
28	United Kingdom	.957
29	Ukraine	.956
30	Uruguay	.955
31	Germany	.954
32	Poland	.952
33	Japan	.949
34	Israel	.947
35	Argentina	.946
36	Barbados	.940
37	Guyana	.939
38	Czech Republic	.938
39	Switzerland	.936
40	Russia	.933
41	Bulgaria	.930
42	Slovakia	.928
43	Portugal	.927
44	Tonga	.920
45	Kyrgyzstan	.919
46	Chile	.918
47	Croatia	.915
48	Romania	.914
49	Mongolia	.913
50	Cyprus	.909

Click to Enlarge

This study views nations holistically, as such, some results may be surprising. For example, I recently talked to a individuals who explained to me how the United States President, Barack Obama, said that the United States was in close competition with India in education, particularly in the sciences. Wondering about this I looked for India on the comprehensive Education Index. India is not included in the above list because I only posted the top 50 whereas India ranked 147th in the Education Index and did not participate in the PISA test. In India, there has been an extensive class and caste system in place, a ridged social system that is only beginning to break down in the large cities. This system holds that education should be provided only for those who need that education for their social class roles. In the view of India’s education you can see how it has effected the average education. In India 46% of the women are illiterate whereas only 25% of men are, furthermore only 15% of India’s population graduate from secondary school. So as an average these numbers bring the countries average down pretty effectively, but an interesting fact is that 12.4% of the population graduate from a post secondary school. In Canada, the number one post secondary graduating country, only 55% of high school graduates graduate from post secondary, whereas in India 83% of secondary graduates graduate from post secondary school. So those that choose a life of education usually do excel in it, but their educational standing in the Index shows very low numbers because it is rating the average basic education and those standards.

Issues like these make the Education index inefficient to measure the quality of education or the educational resources of a country but it does provide a good measure of the quality of life, the countries educational availability, and the provision and quality of necessary educational abilities.

SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT 

In conjunction with the Education Index it is interesting to see the Educational Attainment, the following is a table showing the secondary school enrollment in each country.

These statistics come from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) The definition for the survey is “Net enrollment ratio, secondary level, is the ratio of the number of children of official secondary school age enrolled in school to the number of children of official secondary school age in the population.”

Rank	Country	Secondary School Enrolment (%)
1	Japan	101.2
2	Canada	97.9
3	Sweden	96.1
4	Norway	95
5	Finland	94.6
6	Spain	93.7
6	United Kingdom	93.7
8	France	92.4
9	Bahrain	92.1
10	New Zealand	91.6
11	Poland	90.9
12	Italy	90.5
13	Netherlands	89.9
14	Austrlia	89.7
15	Denmark	89.5
15	Lithuania	88.6
17	Slovenia	88.6
18	Austria	88.5
19	Israel	88.4
20	Cyprus	88.3
21	United States	88.1
22	Belgium	88
23	Switzerland	87.9
24	Germany	87.7
25	Bulgaria	87.6
26	Greece	87.4
27	Hungary	87.2
28	Czech Republic	87.1
29	Ireland	86.5
30	Portugal	85.2

In many countries secondary school is mandatory, or at least for a set duration wherein after the applicants can choose to continue or not.

I call your attention to Japan who has over 100% attendance. The formula for this table as seen above is (# of kids of the age group enrolled/# kids in age group) the dividend includes foreigners whereas the divisor does not include non-residents. At the end of 2008 there were 2,217,426 registered foreigners in Japan, representing 1.74% of the population which if it were subtracted would account for just under 100% (assuming children ratios and native ratios are about equal). So in this calculation it is possible to have a score above 100%.

POST SECONDARY GRADUATION RATES

This table reflects the percent of people (ages 25-65) who currently have graduated from a post secondary establishment. These statistics are retrieved from multiple sources, but unless otherwise indicated the statistics are as of 2000.

Rank	Country	Post Secondary Graduation (%)*
1	Canada	53.4 (2001)
2	Ireland	36
3	Japan	34
4	Finland	33 (2003)
5	Sweden	32
6	Australia	29
7	New Zealand	29
8	Norway	28
9	Belgium	27
10	Denmark	27
11	United States	27 (2003)
12	United Kingdom	26
13	Switzerland	25
14	Germany	23
15	France	23
16	Netherlands	22
17	Austria	14
18	Italy	10

This section in my mind is more of a reflection on the people of countries, and the educational requirements for employ then for the governments focus or plans, although the government does heavily affect it through price, funding, and policy.

Something to note in this table is that there is no further definition of “post secondary school” then that. This table does not measure the quality of the institute, in this table a degree mill is held on the same ground and Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, or UCL.

CONCLUSION

These numbers and statistics reflect and idolize a more communal education system, where the Ideal is that everyone is educated and that the society lifts itself up together. This idea although shared by many, is not shared by all. As we have seen in India, this is not the ideal there, nor is it the mentality that is stressed. Even looking at the United States of America we see a more independent view, a “every man for themselves” mentality, as is illustrated in some views in today’s political war for Universal health care. In a democracy Education is necessary, for it is not the few elite intellectuals that are making the choices that will determine the outcome and direction of a nation, but the masses, the popular views, and the will of the people. Universal education is needed to support a successful democratic society.

See also The Best Education on Earth - Part I: The PISA Test