Comments on the statistics

OECD, Eurostat and Örestat all report statistics about the education level and the direction of study for countries and regions. The international standard ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) is followed. Despite the standard, it is difficult to create coherent and entirely comparable educational statistics among countries and regions. This is due to the educational systems in different countries being so different from one another.

A decisive difference between Denmark and Sweden is when a person is regarded as having completed university education (ISCED-level 5). In Sweden 180 higher education points are required (previously 120 points), regardless of whether a student has received a degree or not. In Denmark, final examinations are required for every type of higher education. These differences make educational statistics between countries not wholly comparable. The same problems occur in international comparisons with countries outside the Nordic area.

Another important differences between the Danish and Swedish educational systems is that Sweden only has one system of upper secondary education for young persons, while in Denmark there are several, such as upper secondary school as well as vocational training schools, which are the two largest.

At the compulsory school level international comparisons are made in the PISA surveys. These surveys have also been able to say something about the schools’ possibilities for breaking away from their social inheritance.

The Danish IT centre for education and research (UNI-C), on behalf of the Ministry of Education, has developed a profile model that forecasts the educational patterns of children and young people in different “cohorts”.  This can offer an indication of the future education level.