Tertiary Attainment by Country (2014)

Many commenters on higher education espouse how the US is falling behind many other countries. The reality is that other countries are catching up, some surpassing, but the US still sits adequately in terms of percent of persons with a postsecondary degree.

The graphic below lists the attainment rates by country in 2014. The blue bar reflects Tertiary B, or equivalent of a two-year degree and up to but not including a four-year degree. The green bar represents Tertiary A, or a BA or higher. As illustrated, South Korea has leapfrogged all nations with an impressive 69 percent attainment rate, 9 points beyond the next best country, Japan, which is closely followed by Canada. The US places 15th on this list, but sits in good company. It is important to note that the US also has one of the most diverse education systems and citizens in this list, making the ranking look even a little better.

SOURCE: OECD data extracted from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment.