Educational attainment of the population, 1 October 2009

In St. Hanshaugen, Ullern and Vestre Aker, an average of above 58 per cent of the population have attained a tertiary education, and they are the three urban districts in Oslo with the highest proportion. The urban districts Stovner and Grorud have the lowest proportion with 19 and 22 per cent respectively.

In the period 1999-2009, the proportion of the population in Oslo aged 16 years and older with less than upper secondary education as its highest obtained level of education decreased by almost four percentage points, while the proportion of the population with a higher education increased by over eight percentage points. However, it should be noted that Oslo has a very high number of persons with an unreported level of education and who are not included in this calculation.

Smaller gender gap in obtained tertiary level of education in Oslo

The gender gap in attained tertiary education continues to prevail both in Oslo and in the country as a whole in 2009. However, the gap in the rate of attained tertiary education was considerably greater for the country as a whole than for Oslo. The female proportion achieving a higher education among those aged 16 years and older in Oslo reached 44 per cent. The male proportion was 43 per cent. In Norway as a whole, 29 per cent of women and 25 per cent of men aged 16 years and older have a higher education level.

Over half of young females within the 25-29 age group have a higher education

Over the last 10 years, the proportion of women aged 25 to 29 years with a higher education has increased significantly. Over 50 per cent of women in this age group had a higher education in 2009, compared with 39 per cent in 1999. Gender gaps in educational attainment also varied during this period of time. Among the population aged 25 to 29 years, women caught up men with regard to obtained long tertiary education. Women aged 25 to 29 had nearly equal rates of attained long tertiary education in 2009, with women having the slight edge; nine per cent compared with eight per cent. Among the 25-29 year-olds in 1999, nearly six per cent of men had long higher tertiary education, compared with only 4.6 per cent of women. Taking the population aged 16 years and older as a whole, the proportion of women with short tertiary education is larger than the proportion of men. More than 24 per cent of women and 16 per cent of men have completed short tertiary education. On the other hand, more men than women have a long tertiary education. More than eight per cent of men had completed long tertiary education, compared with five per cent of women.

Weakest growth in Akershus county

Growth in tertiary education attainment from 1999 to 2009 occurred in all 19 counties in Norway. The smallest growth was in Akershus, which showed only a four percentage point increase over the decade. The percentage with higher tertiary education grew, for instance, by more than eight percentage points in Oslo, seven percentage points in Sør-Trøndelag and six percentage points in Hordaland.

Norwegians’ level of education among the highest

The OECD’s publication Education at a Glance 2009 provides inter alia indicators on level of educational attainment in education. As an average for OECD countries, 27 per cent of the population aged 25-64 years had attained a tertiary education in 2007. In Norway, 34 per cent of the population aged 25 to 64 years had tertiary education. Six OECD countries had a higher proportion with tertiary education than Norway. Canada had the highest rate, with 49 per cent. Finland has the highest share with higher education among the Nordic countries, with 36 per cent. Denmark, Sweden and Iceland have smaller proportions with a tertiary education than Norway; 33, 32 and 30 per cent respectively.

Tables:

• Table 1 Population 16 years and over, by level of education, gender and county of residence. 2009
• Table 2 Population 16 years and over, by level of education and municipality of residence. 2009
• Table 3 Population 16 years and over, by level of education, gender and age. 2009. Per cent
• Table 4 Population 16 years and over, by level of education and field of education. 2009
• Table 5 Population 16 years and over, by level of education and urban districts in Oslo. 2009