Educational attainment of the population, 1 October 2005

Residents of Oslo are amongst the countries most educated, with 40 per cent of the nations capital holding tertiary degrees and 13 per cent holding postgraduate degrees. It should be noted, however, that Oslo has a relatively large proportion of residents with unknown education level. These people are primarily immigrants who completed their education outside of Norway. The counties Rogaland, Hordaland, South-Trondelag and Troms, where Norway's universities are located, have average or above average proportions of residents with a tertiary education. Inland counties Hedmark, Oppland and Nordland lie at the bottom end of the scale with just 18-19 per cent of residents having completed higher education.

More women than men have a tertiary education

26 per cent of women in Norway have a tertiary education, compared with 24 per cent of men. The proportion of men who have completed a postgraduate degree, however, is almost double that for women. This gender difference is most apparent amongst men and women aged 50 years and over. More women than men have lower secondary school as their highest completed education, while the opposite trend is apparent at the upper secondary school level.

Almost half the women aged 25 to 29 years have completed a tertiary degree, compared with under one third of men of the same age. 9 per cent of men aged 30 to 39 years have postgraduate degrees. Over 50 per cent of women and 39 per cent of men aged 67 years and over have not gone beyond lower secondary school.

International guidelines

The figures for 2005 are based on new definitions for what is required to attain each level of education in Norway. The main effect has been to raise the demands for attaining upper secondary and tertiary education. These new definitions are more in line with international guidelines for level of education, thereby improving the compatibility of Norway's figures with other countries. For more information, refer to 'About the Statistics', sections 4.2 and 6.1.

Tables:

• Table 1 Population 16 years and over, by level of education (new classification), gender and county of residence. 1 October 2005
• Table 2 Persons 16 years and above, by level of education (new classification) and municipality of residence. 1 October 2005
• Table 3 Population 16 years and over, by level of education (new classification), gender and age. 1 October 2005. Per cent
• Table 4 Population 16 years and over, by level of education (new classification) and field of education. 1 October 2005
• Table 5 Population 16 years and over, by level of education (old classification), gender and county of residence. 1 October 2005
• Table 6 Persons 16 years and above, by level of education (old classification) and municipality of residence. 1 October 2005
• Table 7 Population 16 years and over, by level of education (old classification), gender and age. 1 October 2005. Per cent
• Table 8 Population 16 years and over, by level of education (old classification) and field of education. 1 October 2005