The role of private institutions in tertiary education varies sharply across countries. World Bank World Development Indicators series SE.TER.PRIV.ZS measures the share of all tertiary students who are enrolled in institutions that are not operated by a public authority but are controlled and managed by a private body. Across the 171 latest non-null country and area observations in this dataset, the unweighted median is 24.2% and the mean is 33.3%.
The reference year is the first caveat. The dataset keeps each economy’s latest available non-null observation, so the rows span 1998–2020. Only Bhutan and Monaco have 2020 observations, while 66 rows are dated 2018 and 43 are dated 2019. The map is therefore a latest-observation comparison of the private share of tertiary enrolment, not a synchronized 2020 world ranking.
Table of Contents
The indicator measures where tertiary students are enrolled, not how many people enter tertiary education
This is not a tertiary-enrolment rate for the population. The denominator is all students enrolled in tertiary education in the reference year, and the numerator is the subset enrolled in private institutions. A value of 40% means roughly 40 of every 100 tertiary students are enrolled in institutions classified as private. It does not mean 40% of the population attends college, nor does it report the private share of the number of institutions.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics definition of a private educational institution focuses on control and management. An institution may be controlled by a nongovernmental organization, religious body, foundation, business enterprise or another non-public body. “Private” therefore should not be treated as a synonym for for-profit, unsubsidized, or expensive.
The median latest observation is 24.2%, with a very wide cross-country distribution
Treating each of the 171 reporting rows equally, the first quartile is 13.2%, the median is 24.2%, and the third quartile is 46.6%. The middle half of the country and area observations therefore lies between about 13.2% and 46.6%. The mean of 33.3% is an unweighted row average, not a student-weighted global share.
| Private share of tertiary enrolment | Countries/areas | Share of 171 |
|---|---|---|
| <10% | 29 | 17.0% |
| 10–25% | 57 | 33.3% |
| 25–50% | 49 | 28.7% |
| 50–75% | 23 | 13.5% |
| 75–100% | 13 | 7.6% |
Twenty-nine observations are below 10%, 57 are between 10% and 25%, and 49 are between 25% and 50%. Another 23 lie between 50% and 75%, while 13 are at least 75%. The range is therefore broad, from systems in which the reported private share is very small to systems in which most tertiary students are enrolled in privately controlled institutions.
Korea is 80.3% in 2018; Japan, Brazil, India and Indonesia are also high in their latest observations
| Country | Reference year | Private share |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2018 | 100.0% |
| Korea, Rep. | 2018 | 80.3% |
| Japan | 2018 | 78.8% |
| Brazil | 2018 | 73.4% |
| Indonesia | 2018 | 59.4% |
| India | 2019 | 57.8% |
| Mexico | 2018 | 35.2% |
| United States | 2018 | 26.3% |
| Singapore | 2018 | 26.0% |
| France | 2018 | 23.7% |
| Australia | 2018 | 22.0% |
| China | 2019 | 14.4% |
| Italy | 2018 | 13.6% |
| Germany | 2018 | 10.5% |
| Russian Federation | 2018 | 9.1% |
| South Africa | 2018 | 7.8% |
| Saudi Arabia | 2019 | 4.5% |
The Republic of Korea is 80.3% in 2018, Japan 78.8% in the same year, and Brazil 73.4%. India is 57.8% in 2019 and Indonesia 59.4% in 2018. By comparison, the United States is 26.3% in 2018, France 23.7%, Australia 22.0%, China 14.4% in 2019, and Germany 10.5% in 2018. The United Kingdom is reported at 100% for 2018.
A high value is not a quality score, and a low value is not evidence that the public sector performs better. Legal status, institutional governance, religious and foundation sectors, government subsidies and national classification practices differ. A privately controlled institution can still receive substantial public funding, so governance and financing should not be treated as the same dimension.
Reference years span 1998–2020, although 146 observations (85.4%) are from 2015 or later
Of the 171 latest observations, 146 (85.4%) are dated 2015–2020. There are 66 observations in 2018, 43 in 2019, 17 in 2017, 11 in 2015, seven in 2016 and two in 2020. The remaining 25 are older. Most rows are therefore concentrated in the late 2010s, but the dataset is not a common-year panel.
| Reference year | Countries/areas |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2017 | 17 |
| 2018 | 66 |
| 2019 | 43 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| Other years before 2015 | 25 |
Because reference years differ, comparing Korea’s 80.3% with India’s 57.8% is useful for seeing large structural differences, but it is not an exact same-year ranking. Fine-grained league tables require aligned years, especially when two countries differ by only a few percentage points.
The 2018 subset gives a same-year comparison for 66 countries and areas
The most common reference year is 2018. Restricting the data to that year leaves 66 observations and an unweighted median of 21.9%. In this same-year subset, the United Kingdom, Grenada and Liechtenstein are reported at 100%, Latvia at 91.7%, Chile at 84.0%, Israel at 83.2%, Korea at 80.3%, Japan at 78.8%, and Brazil at 73.4%.
At the other end of the 2018 subset, Denmark is about 1.0%, Ireland 5.0%, South Africa 7.8%, and Germany 10.5%. These differences show how strongly the institutional structure of tertiary education varies. They do not, by themselves, reveal how much households pay, how much governments subsidize students, or how selective institutions are.
Values of 100% or 0% describe the reported student share, not a judgment about the system
The data include both 100% and 0% observations. A reported 100% means all tertiary students in that observation were classified as enrolled in private institutions. A reported 0% means no private-institution enrolment was recorded in the indicator. These are reported numeric values rather than missing values converted to zero. Small economies and unusual institutional structures should still be interpreted in context.
The indicator is also student-based rather than institution-based. A country can have many small private institutions but a modest private enrolment share, or a small number of very large private institutions and a high share. Counting institutions would answer a different question.
What this indicator does not measure: access, tuition, quality or public spending
SE.TER.PRIV.ZS cannot tell us the overall size of tertiary education. A gross tertiary-enrolment ratio is needed to study participation relative to the population. Tuition and student-aid data are needed to assess household costs, public expenditure data are needed to study government financing, and separate indicators are required for completion, learning outcomes, employment, wages or research performance.
A country with an 80% private share does not necessarily have higher or lower tertiary participation than a country with a 20% private share. Both percentages use only tertiary students as the denominator. The indicator is best used to describe the institutional mix within tertiary enrolment, not the overall performance of a national education system.
Data source and comparison method
The country and area values come from World Bank World Development Indicators SE.TER.PRIV.ZS. The unit is the percentage of total tertiary enrolment that is in private educational institutions. The control-and-management concept behind “private educational institution” is cross-checked against the UNESCO UIS glossary definition.
All summary statistics are calculated directly from the 171 retained latest observations. Missing values are not converted to zero, and older observations are not relabeled as 2020. The mean and median are unweighted across country/area rows rather than weighted by tertiary student counts. The reference year should be kept beside the percentage when comparing countries.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an 80% private share of tertiary enrolment mean?
It means that about 80 of every 100 tertiary students in that reference year were enrolled in institutions classified as private. It does not mean 80% of the total population attends private colleges or universities.
Is this a 2020 country ranking?
No. The dataset keeps the latest non-null observation for each of 171 countries and areas, with reference years spanning 1998–2020. Only Bhutan and Monaco have retained 2020 observations.
What is the Republic of Korea’s latest value?
The Republic of Korea is 80.27% in 2018 in World Bank SE.TER.PRIV.ZS. Comparisons should keep the different reference years and national institutional classifications in view.
Does a higher private share mean students pay more or the system is more privatized?
Not necessarily. The indicator describes enrolment by institutional control and management. It does not directly measure tuition, public subsidies, scholarships, household costs, education quality or government spending.
Related Articles
This article describes the current institutional mix of tertiary enrolment. The articles below use a different denominator—the adult population age 25+—and help separate where current students are enrolled from how much tertiary education adults have completed.
- Bachelor’s-or-Higher Attainment Map: Latest Values for Adults 25+
- Global Short-Cycle Tertiary Attainment Map | Adults 25+ by Country
- Master’s-or-Higher Attainment for Adults 25+ | 2020–2024 Map
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