Educational attainment of the population

Name: Educational attainment of the population

Topic: Education

Division for Education and Culture Statistics

National, county and municipal level. In addition, figures for districts in the four largest cities are presented.

The statistics are published annually in June and refer to October 1 the previous year as the counting date.

Data on enrolment is delivered to OECD, UNESCO 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.

Statistics Norway can deliver supplementary data and tables related to these statistics. To order supplementary data and tables, please contact Statistics Norway at oppdragutdanning@ssb.no. The price will depend on the size of the order.

The purpose of the statistics is to present individual-based statistics on the Educational Attainment of the Population. The statistics are government-funded.

Statistics on the Educational Attainment of the Population have previously been compiled in conjunction with the census of 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980. In addition, a status report on the Educational Attainment of the Population was compiled in 1975. Data on educational attainment for the entire population was for the last time collected as part of the Population and Housing Census in 1970 (FoB70).

Based on census data, as well as the annual files on completed educations in Norway, data on educational attainment was updated from 1970 to November 11, 1980. Completed educations abroad between 1970 and 1980 were obtained from the 1980 Population and Housing Census (FoB80). In addition, three surveys have been conducted for individuals with a completed education abroad before immigrating to Norway:

1. In the spring of 1991, a survey called 'Utdanning fullført i utlandet' ('Education completed abroad') collected data on completed educations taken abroad by foreign-born individuals who had immigrated to Norway for the first time between November 1, 1980 and December 12, 1990 and who were 16 years or older the first year of their stay.

2. In 1999, a similar survey was conducted, where the respondents were all registered Norwegian residents with foreign background and missing educational attainment in the database of the Educational Attainment of the Population. Also included in the survey were non-respondents to the 1991 survey and Norwegians who were living abroad and registered with missing educational attainment when the Educational Attainment of the Population was initially created in 1970.

3. In the autumn of 2011, a similar survey, called 'Undersøkelse om utdanning 2011' ('Survery on education 2011') was again conducted. Statistics Norway sent out a questionnaire to more than 217,000 immigrants residing in Norway who as of October 1, 2011 had no registered education in the database of the Educational Attainment of the Population. Lack of information on educational attainment applies mainly to individuals who have graduated in countries other than Norway. Individuals under the age of 20 were not included in the survey due to the assumption that they would probably encounter the Norwegian education system and would be reported through the educational institutions’ reports. Prior to the survey, Statistics Norway lacked educational information for 43 per cent of all immigrants aged 16 or older. The survey resulted in this proportion being reduced to 20.4 per cent.

The number of immigrants with missing educational attainment has continued to increase every year following the previous survey. As of October 1, 2014, 25 per cent of resident immigrants were registered with missing educational attainment in the database of the Educational Attainment of the Population. To better shed light on the level of immigrants’ educational attainment, including those for whom this information is lacking, statistical methods have been used as of October 1, 2014 to estimate the level of educational attainment for this group. This allows Statistics Norway to provide statistics on immigrants with missing educational attainment at aggregate level, but not at individual level. The statistical methods are described in detail in the section 'Production'.

Important users of the education statistics are public administratiors, special interest organizations, the media, researchers, business and industry. Key users among the ministries are the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs. The statistics are also used by international organizations such as the EU, the OECD and UNESCO.

In addition, the statistics are used internally in Statistics Norway in publications and in assignments.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8:00 a.m. Prior to this, a minimum of three months’ advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

Education statistics are individual-based and therefore easily linked to other individual-based statistics at Statistics Norway. Education statistics are used comprehensively by labour market statistics, health statistics, living conditions statistics and income and wage statistics. The education statistics are also used in various sample surveys directed 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 database of the Educational Attainment of the Population encompasses all individuals registered as residents in Norway as of October 1, aged 16 or older at the end of the calendar year. Fifteen-year-olds who have completed compulsory education or who are enrolled in education beyond compulsory level are also included.

The database of the Educational Attainment of the Population is based on the 1970 Population and Housing Census. Annual records of completed educations are also utilized to produce statistics on the Educational Attainment of the Population. Additional data on completed educations is obtained from the State Educational Loan Fund, Norway (Lånekassen) for individuals who complete their education abroad with financial support from Lånekassen. Data from Lånekassen was first collected in 1992 for the years 1986 to 1992 and has been collected annually since1993.

From 2001 onwards, the data base has been supplemented with data from the National Diploma Database (NVB) and the Health Personnel Register (HPR). Completed educations files for the years 2001-2002 have also been updated with data from NVB and HPR. From 2008, 2017 and 2018 onwards, the database has been, respectively, supplemented with annual data from the Database of Foreign Nationals (UDB), the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT), the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), from 2023 the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) and from 2024 The Doctoral Degree Register.

In 2020, the database of the Educational Attainment of the Population was supplemented with data on completed educations from the statistical agencies in Iceland, Finland and Denmark. These are mainly educations completed before 2019 in one of the mentioned countries by individuals who either have been or are residents in Norway.

The database of the Educational Attainment of the Population is extracted directly from Statistics Norway’s National Education Database (NUDB). NUDB covers the following educational statistics: completed educations as of school-year 1970/1971; enrolment from the school-year 1974/1975; and data on the Educational Attainment of the Population from the 1970 census. The basis for the extraction from NUDB is being resident in Norway aged 16 years or older as of October 1 the current year.

If several educational activities are registered for one individual, the one with the highest level is selected, classified according to the Norwegian Standard Classification of Education (NUS). If level does not differentiate the educational activities, the one with the highest grade-level is selected. If grade level does not differentiate the educational activities, the one which does not have any code for general field of study in NUS2000 is selected. If the field of study can neither distinguish between the educational activities, the one with the latest graduation date is selected. And if the graduation date does not separate the educational activities, one is selected randomly.

Data collection

Data on completed compulsory education (in the statistics called “Below upper secondary education”) is obtained from the county municipal admission system to upper secondary education, called “VIGO,” which is also the most important source of data for upper secondary education.

Statistics Norway collects educational data on tertiary vocational colleges, university colleges and universities from Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH), Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), and the administrative systems of various higher education 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. Finally, duplicate students are deleted, such 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.

Estimation

As of October 1, 2014, statistical measures have been implemented to provide better statistics at aggregate level on immigrants with missing educational attainment. Educational attainment is computed using a statistical method called 'predictive mean matching' which is derived from 'nearest neighbour method'. It implies finding a donor, an individual who is as similar to the individual with missing educational attainment as possible but with known educational attainment and using their observed value.

Then, by using various background variables of individuals, a regression model is adapted for the available data. By utilizing the regression model, both individuals with known and missing educational attainment are attributed a predicted value. In this way, the predicted value of the donor is used to impute an educational attainment value that replaces the missing value for the individual with no educational attainment. Thus, the most probable value of educational attainment is attributed to each individual with missing educational attainment. Auxiliary variables used to find the “nearest neighbour” are gender, age, country background, immigration category, citizenship, registered date of immigration to Norway, occupation and income. For a more detailed explanation of the method, see Jentoft (2014).

The imputation method implies that Statistics Norway can present representative statistics at aggregate level for immigrants with missing educational attainment. The statistics provide a better notion at aggregate level but are not intended for use on small populations. Imputed values should not be included for imputation of other characteristics. Researchers can decide whether they want to use datasets with or without imputed values for their purpose.

Not relevant.

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Statistics Norway does not publish figures where there is a risk of identifying individual data about persons.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

Systematic data collection on the Educational Attainment of the Population began in 1970. Prior to this, data on the Educational Attainment of the Population was compiled in conjunction with the census of 1950 and 1960.

Comparability of the Educational Attainment of the Population registered in 1970 and 1980 could cause inconsistency if a detailed education level breakdown is desired. Nevertheless, the following three main levels should be used if one wants to compare over time: compulsory school level schooling (in the statistics called “Below upper secondary education”), upper secondary level, and higher education.

In the past, data on completed higher education contained less detailed information, due to the fact student data that was reported to Statistics Norway by universities and university colleges consisted of study programs with large and compact courses. For students who took exams in, for instance, mathematical and natural science faculties this led to their educational attainment not being updated before completing their “cand.mag-degee” (“cand.mag” is a former degree and title obtained after three or four years of undergraduate study, like a bachelor’s degree).

From the academic year of 1998/1999, data on credits obtained for every course in a study program at higher education level was collected. Subsequently, after a restructuration of the data collection, the data base includes all exams taken at tertiary vocational colleges, university colleges and universities. From 1998/1999, this implied that an attainment at a specific higher education level could also be obtained on the basis of the sum of credits obtained, in addition to attainment by completing the education at higher education level. For example, if a student obtained a total of 120 credits in mathematical and natural sciences at higher education, the student would be attributed educational attainment of higher education – undergraduate level.

However, as of 2006, changes have been made to the level definitions in all the statistics on the Educational Attainment of the Population. The changes were done primarily to increase the harmonization between the Norwegian level definitions and international guidelines. In general, the requirements to be defined at upper secondary level and higher education level were restricted.

Comparability of immigrants’ educational attainment over time is influenced by the fact that all immigrants with missing educational attainment have been attributed an educational attainment level as of 2014 (see section 'Collection of data, editing and estimations' above).

There is no educational information on completed education by Norwegian-born individuals abroad between 1980 and 1986. In 1992, data on Norwegian-born individuals who were studying abroad between 1986-1992 and who received financial support were obtained from the State Educational Loan Fund, Norway (Lånekassen). Since 1993 this kind of information has been obtained annually from Lånekassen.

The education statistics are not based on sample selection, and Statistics Norway attempts to include every pupil and student that the statistics by definition should include. There could be cases of pupils and students not being included in the statistics. This may be due to inadequate reporting or Statistics Norway not being aware of all relevant data registry sources.

Possible errors may be related to the educational files that form the basis for the statistics on the Educational Attainment of the Population or errors in the responses of respondents in some of the surveys, although most errors are identified in the control and audit routines at Statistics Norway. See general principles for revisions in Statistics Norway.