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Education at a Glance 2021

OECD Indicators

image of Education at a Glance 2021

Education at a Glance is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances and performance of education systems across OECD countries and a number of partner economies. More than 100 charts and tables in this publication – as well as links to much more available on the educational database – provide key information on the output of educational institutions; the impact of learning across countries; access, participation and progression in education; the financial resources invested in education; and teachers, the learning environment and the organisation of schools.

The 2021 edition includes a focus on equity, investigating how progress through education and the associated learning and labour market outcomes are impacted by dimensions such as gender, socio-economic status, country of birth and regional location. A specific chapter is dedicated to Target 4.5 of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on equity in education, providing an assessment of where OECD and partner countries stand in providing equal access to quality education at all levels. Two new indicators on the mechanisms and formulas used to allocate public funding to schools and on teacher attrition rate complement this year's edition.

English Also available in: French, German

What are the financial incentives to invest in education?

Private net financial returns are the difference between the costs and benefits associated with attaining an additional level of education. In this analysis, the costs include the direct costs of attaining education and foregone earnings, while the benefits correspond to earnings from employment after paying income taxes and social contributions (see Definitions section). Another way to analyse returns to education is through the internal rate of return, which is the real interest rate that would equalise the costs and benefits, leading an investment to break even. It can be interpreted as the interest rate on the investment made on a higher level of education that an individual can expect to receive every year during their working-age life. The financial incentives to invest in education can also be expressed as total benefits relative to total costs (benefit-cost ratio). This is expressed as the financial benefit of attaining an additional level of education for each USD invested in it. Depending on which measure is used, the relative incentives to invest in additional educational attainment differ between men and women.

English Also available in: French

Tables

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