Comments on the statistics

OECD, Eurostat and Ørestat all report statistics about the education level and the direction for countries and regions. The following is the international standard ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education). 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 vital difference between Denmark and Sweden is when a person is regarded as having completed a higher education (ISCED-level 5). In Sweden 120 higher education points are required, regardless of whether one 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 are encountered in international comparisons with countries outside the Nordic area. 

Another important difference 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, developed a profile model that projects the educational patterns of children and young people in different “cohorts”. This can offer an indication of the future education level. Read more here