Education attainment

Access to education, skills development and learning throughout life

Metrics

Proportion of people aged 20-24 with a qualification at Year 12 or equivalent
Proportion of people aged 25-34 with a qualification at Certificate III level or above

Why this matters

Education and training creates opportunity for people, enables them to make a full contribution to the community and underpins the development of aspiration and purpose.

Progress

In 2023:

85% of people aged 20-24 years held a qualification at Year 12 or equivalent, similar to 2022 (86%), and up from 2014 (77%)
73% of people aged 25-34 years held a qualification at Certificate III level or above, similar to 2022 (73%), and up from 2014 (66%).

Proportion of people with Year 12 or equivalent and Certificate III level or above
	People aged 20-24 with a qualification at Year 12 or equivalent (%)	People aged 25-34 with a qualification at Certificate III level or above(a)(b) (%)
2014	76.8	66.0
2015	78.7	67.7
2016	81.3	69.3
2017	79.1	70.5
2018	82.1	70.8
2019	82.5	70.1
2020	84.6	70.9
2021	84.3	72.2
2022	86.2	73.1
2023	84.9	72.7

Proportion of people with Year 12 or equivalent and Certificate III level or above

["","People aged 20-24 with a qualification at Year 12 or equivalent","People aged 25-34 with a qualification at Certificate III level or above(a)(b)"]

[["2014","2015","2016","2017","2018","2019","2020","2021","2022","2023"],[[76.799999999999997],[78.700000000000003],[81.299999999999997],[79.099999999999994],[82.099999999999994],[82.5],[84.599999999999994],[84.299999999999997],[86.200000000000003],[84.900000000000006]],[[66],[67.700000000000003],[69.299999999999997],[70.5],[70.799999999999997],[70.099999999999994],[70.900000000000006],[72.200000000000003],[73.099999999999994],[72.700000000000003]]]

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Further information about the certificate levels is available from the Australian Qualifications Framework.
Data was obtained through a custom analysis of ABS Education and Work 2023.

Data Source

ABS Education and Work - Table 18 and Table 33

Differences across groups

People aged 20-24 with a qualification at Year 12 or equivalent

In 2023, more people aged 20-24 had completed Year 12 or equivalent than a decade ago:

81% of males (an increase from 72% in 2014)
88% of females (an increase from 81% in 2014).

Census data reported in Closing the Gap shows the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 20-24 who had completed Year 12 or equivalent increased from 53% in 2016 to 60% in 2021.

People aged 25-34 with a qualification at Certificate III level or above

In 2023, more people aged 25-34 held a qualification at Certificate III level or above than in 2014:

69% of males (an increase from 64%)
76% of females (an increase from 67%).

The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-34 with a qualification at Certificate III level or above increased from 42% in 2016 to 47% in 2021.

Disaggregation

Further information on educational attainment is available at ABS Education and Work, Closing the Gap and Census 2021 Education and training.

Disaggregation available includes:

sex
remoteness areas
Indigenous status
level of education attainment.