Statistikk innhold
Statistics on
Post-secondary vocational education
The statistics cover all students in post-secondary vocational education as of 1 October and completed programmes during the period 1 October-30 September.
Selected figures from these statistics
- Students in post-secondary vocational educationDownload table as ...Students in post-secondary vocational education
Number of students Number of students Graduations from post-secondary vocational education Graduations from post-secondary vocational education 2024 2025 2023-2024 2024-2025 Total 31 927 33 400 12 512 14 225 Per cent women 47.2 48.3 51.9 52.1 Per cent in public schools 46.9 47.4 41.9 45.3 Per cent in 2 year programmes 45.1 44.7 37.0 33.1 2021/2022 figures for graduations in post-secondary vocational education were corrected 17 March 2023. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Age of students in post-secondary vocational educationDownload table as ...Age of students in post-secondary vocational education
2025 In total Public Private Number of students 33 399 15 840 17 559 Per cent 20 years old and younger 2.7 2.7 2.8 Per cent 21-25 years old 21.6 27.0 16.8 Per cent 26-30 years old 18.6 21.2 16.2 Per cent 31-35 years old 16.0 15.9 16.0 Per cent 36-40 years old 14.1 12.0 15.9 Per cent 41-45 years old 11.4 9.2 13.4 Per cent 46-50 years old 7.9 6.1 9.6 Per cent 51 years old and older 7.7 5.9 9.3 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Immigration category for students in post-secondary vocational educationDownload table as ...Immigration category for students in post-secondary vocational education
2025 Number of students Per cent men Per cent women Per cent in public schools Per cent in private schools Total 33 399 51.7 48.3 47.4 52.6 Immigrants 6 752 36.2 63.8 29.6 70.4 Norwegian-born to immigrant parents 939 54.3 45.7 34.1 65.9 Other population 25 708 55.7 44.3 52.6 47.4 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Field of education and duration for students in post-secondary vocational educationDownload table as ...Field of education and duration for students in post-secondary vocational education
2025 All, regardless of duration Duration Under 2 years 2 years Both sexes Males Females Males Females Fields of education, total 33 400 5 631 12 851 11 643 3 275 Humanities and arts 1 757 116 386 284 971 Education 1 297 199 1 070 0 28 Social sciences and law 329 66 173 53 37 Business and administration 4 775 1 192 3 115 126 342 Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects 14 479 2 203 940 9 786 1 550 Health, welfare and sport 7 669 1 080 6 402 58 129 Primary industries 413 189 203 13 8 Transport and communications, safety and security and other services 2 681 586 562 1 323 210 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Immigration category and sex for graduations in post-secondary vocational educationDownload table as ...Immigration category and sex for graduations in post-secondary vocational education
2024-2025 Number Per cent men Per cent women Per cent in public schools Per cent in private schools Total 14 225 47.9 52.1 45.3 54.7 Immigrants 2 572 33.3 66.7 29.7 70.3 Norwegian-born to immigrant parents 306 53.3 46.7 28.8 71.2 Other population 11 347 51.1 48.9 49.3 50.7 2021/2022 figures for graduations in post-secondary vocational education were corrected 17 March 2023. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Duration and field of education for graduations in post-secondary vocational educationDownload table as ...Duration and field of education for graduations in post-secondary vocational education
2024-2025 Both sexes Under 2 years 2 years Males Females Males Females Fields of education, total 14 225 3 206 6 310 3 610 1 099 Humanities and arts 1 006 81 307 148 470 Education 407 56 351 0 0 Social sciences and law 188 37 99 31 21 Business and administration 2 209 606 1 497 27 79 Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects 5 871 1 630 682 3 093 466 Health, welfare and sport 3 345 403 2 926 7 9 Primary industries 221 103 97 13 8 Transport and communications, safety and security and other services 978 290 351 291 46 2021/2022 figures for graduations in post-secondary vocational education were corrected 17 March 2023. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Students who have completed post-secondary vocational education, field of study and employment statusDownload table as ...Students who have completed post-secondary vocational education, field of study and employment status1
2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 Numbers Number of employment status Numbers Number of employment status Numbers Number of employment status Numbers Number of employment Field of education and duration for students in post-secondary vocational education2024All, regardless of duration DurationUnder 2 years 2 yearsBoth sexes Males Females Males FemalesFields of education, total 9 744 86.9 10 427 87.6 10 376 86.2 11 802 87.0 Humanities and arts 1 109 66.5 1 190 66.7 1 026 60.6 946 64.5 Education 146 96.6 212 96.7 190 97.4 302 95.4 Social sciences and law 172 73.8 228 73.2 256 66.4 195 72.8 Business and administration 1 814 82.7 2 296 87.2 1 983 86.3 2 278 86.0 Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects 3 012 88.5 3 123 89.0 3 669 87.5 4 544 86.8 Health, welfare and sport 2 182 96.8 2 277 96.2 2 282 96.5 2 545 96.1 Primary industries 156 94.2 147 90.5 202 92.1 214 92.5 Transport and communications, safety and security and other services 728 88.0 802 89.7 768 85.5 778 88.3 Unspecified field of study 425 93.4 152 91.4 0 . 0 1Employment status is based on a reference week in November, same year as the students completed their studies. The numbers are retrieved from the same source as; employment, register-based. 2021/2022 figures for graduations in post-secondary vocational education were corrected 17 March 2023. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 12 December 2025.
Enrolled students
Students registered at an approved institution post-secondary vocational education as of 1 October.
Completed education
An education activity is recognized as completed when the institution the students are attending, awards them a diploma or provides some other evidence that they have met the full requirements for completion.
Highest educational attainment of parents
Parental educational attainment is divided into four categories:
- Primary and lower secondary education
- Upper secondary education
- Higher education, short (at least two years, but also 4 years or less)
- Higher education, long (more than four years).
Parental educational attainment is defined by the one parent with the highest level of education. For example, if the parental educational attainment of a student is “Higher education, short,” it implies that at least one of the parents has education at this level. Cases where there is no information on the level of education of any of the parents falls into the “Unspecified” group. See also the definitions of educational level.
Immigrants
Persons born abroad of two foreign-born parents and four foreign-born grandparents.
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents
Persons who are born in Norway of two parents born abroad, and in addition have four grandparents born abroad.
School county
The county where the institution is located.
Ownership
Schools are classified as either public or private.
Age Estimated as of December 31.
Educational activities are grouped by the Norwegian Standard Classification of Education which was established in 1970 by Statistics Norway and later revised in 1973, 1989 and 2000. In statistics based on fields of education, both NUS subject fields and the FKF educational categories (FKF = Joint Classification System for Vocational College Education (in Norwegian only)) are used. FKF is a supplement to Statistics Norway’s Norwegian Standard for Educational Classification (NUS2000).
For international purposes, ISCED 2011 (International Standard Classification of Education) is used.
Educational institutions are classified as being higher education by the Standard Industrial Classification.
Name: Post-secondary vocational education.
Topic: Education
Division for education and culture statistics.
Figures are presented at national level and county level. Data includes information that makes it possible to provide figures at other regional levels.
Statistics on students and graduations in post-secondary vocational education are published annually in December XXXX. Statistics on employment status, completion rates and educational attainment are published in April-June XXXX+1.
Data are reported to UNESCO, OECD and Eurostat (U-O-E).
Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.
Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.
There is a high demand for the collection of official statistics on education. Official education statistics are individually based and document all educational activities for current students at post-secondary vocational education in Norway.
Norway’s education statistics went through a structural readjustment in the beginning of the 1970’s. All statistics on higher education were previously available through a census. The data is now individually based, where all educational activities are attached to each individual’s personal ID-number. The data is contained in the National Education Database (NUDB), in a format that allows the production of different kinds of education statistics and alignment with other types of individually based statistics where necessary (e.g. income, social-welfare).
The purpose of these statistics is to collect data on all post-secondary vocational education in Norway
Important users of the education statistics are the Ministry of Education and Research, public administration, researchers, special interest organisations, international organisations (Eurostat, OECD and UNESCO), media, business and industry. In addition, data is used internally in Statistics Norway in publications and in assignments.
No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.
Data from post-secondary vocational education is combined with data from lower- and upper secondary and higher education when revision processes are complete. Data is then stored as single annual files in the National Education Database (NUDB). Statistics Norway uses a similar system for all individually based statistics, making it easy to combine education statistics with other areas. Labour market statistics, health statistics, living conditions statistics and income and wage statistics are examples of other individually based statistics compiled by Statistics Norway.
The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).
Commission Regulation (EU) No 88/2011 of 2 February 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning, as regards statistics on education and training systems.
The statistics cover all students in post-secondary vocational education as of 1 October. There are several criteria for how a student’s educational activity is recorded. Each student can be registered as active in only one educational activity, although he/she may be registered for several educational activities or educational institutions at the same time. If a student is registered for several activities or several institutions at the same time, education at the highest level is maintained above others, educational activity at a Specialised University Institution is chosen over education at other types of school, and full-time activity is chosen over part-time activities. If a student is enrolled in several part-time educational activities, the one with highest level is chosen.
The statistics cover all completed programmes registered during the period 1 October- 30 September (the year after). Completion rates of students is calculated by combining multiple years of ongoing and completed education.
Pursuant to the Statistical Act, Statistics Norway collects student data from Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH) and the administrative systems of various higher education institutions.
Surveys are not employed to collect education statistics. All data is obtained from institutions’ databases.
Data collection
Pursuant to the Statistical Act (June 1989, No.54), Statistics Norway collects student data from Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH) and the administrative systems of various educational institutions.
Editing
Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data. Editing includes both control and revision and is performed on all educational data collected. It encompasses deletion of duplicate records, a control for correct and valid values for each variable, comparisons with last year’s data and checks for missing information. Several variables are re-coded to comply with control programs run by Statistics Norway. Personal ID-numbers are referenced against Statistics Norway’s population database to check for errors. At last, duplicate students within post-secondary vocational educationare are deleted, which implies that a student can only be counted once although the student may be registered for several educational activities or educational institutions at the same time at this level.
Estimation
No estimation is performed. The statistics are based data obtained from university and college databases.
Not relevant.
Interviewers and everyone who works at Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality. Statistics Norway has its own data protection officer. Statistics Norway does not publish figures where there is a risk of identifying individual data about persons or households].
As from 2025: All 1s and 2s have been replaced by 0 or 3 in order to meet privacy requirement. When the figures are aggregated to a higher regional level, the sum may differ slightly from the actual figure.
More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.
Individually based data on students has been published annually since it was first collected in 1974. Most variables are comparable, but some have changed. The Norwegian Standard Classification of Education (NUS2000) has been revised to secure comparability over time. While educational variables are reasonably comparable over time, other variables, e.g. various institution types, cannot be re-coded and thus not comparable over time.
Statistical investigations may encounter various sources of error. The errors can occur either during data collection (in this case, registration of student information) or during data processing (control and revision processes performed by Statistics Norway).
It is difficult to estimate the extent of error in student registers. A person may be wrongly registered as being a student, especially for individual institutions that use a different enumeration date than Statistics Norway (October 1). There could be an overestimation of enrolled students since student registration occur with payment of registration fees rather than enrolment in courses. In addition, some students could remain as enrolled students in the system even after graduating. There is also the possibility of students reporting inaccurate information about themselves in registration. Personal responsible for reporting student data at institutions could also make errors during data processing.
A revision is a planned change to figures that have already been published, for example when releasing final figures as a follow-up to published preliminary figures. See also Statistics Norway’s principles for revisions.