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Sustainable development is facilitated when the citizenry has the knowledge and skills needed to address a range of economic, social and environmental opportunities and challenges in an informed and integrated way. One indicator for measuring the extent of the population’s knowledge and skills is the level of formal education that people have completed by the time they reach adulthood. In the figure, these levels of attainment are defined as the percentage of 25- to 29- year old individuals who have completed high school or beyind; one or more years of college, and a bachelor’s degree or higher. This age group is often measured because it takes into account young people who dropped out of school for a period before returning to complete their education.
Higher levels of education in the population are consistently related to rates of economic growth and development, the population’s health, participation in the community, further training and education in later life, and many other variables. Recently, the percentage of the population completing at least some college education has accelerated in the U.S., reflecting demands, particularly economic, for higher levels of education and skill. The percentage of 25- to 29- year-old people who are high school dropouts decreased from 22.3% in 1971 to 12.7% in 1996.
Link(s) to national databases (also see section on Related Internet Links):
http://www.sdi.gov/indicators/lc_edu.htm
Last Modified: May 13, 2002