What share of tertiary graduates complete programmes in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, or veterinary studies? World Bank indicator SE.TER.GRAD.AG.ZS measures the percentage of all tertiary graduates in the reference year whose completed programme belongs to this broad field, with both sexes combined. The supplied file contains 155 latest non-null observations, but their reference years span 1999–2020. The main map and recent comparison therefore focus on the 90 observations dated 2018–2020 rather than presenting the entire file as a 2020 world ranking.
Within that 2018–2020 subset, the unweighted median is 1.65% and the simple mean is 2.04%. Lao PDR records 8.53% in 2018, Uzbekistan 7.81% in 2019, Grenada 7.41% in 2018, and Tanzania 6.98% in 2019. The denominator is all tertiary graduates in the observation year. The indicator is not the share of the population working in agriculture and not the current enrollment share in agricultural programmes.
Table of Contents
The field includes agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary studies
UNESCO ISCED-F 2013 defines broad field 08 as Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary. Its narrower components include agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary studies; agriculture itself covers areas such as crop and livestock production and horticulture. The indicator should therefore not be relabeled as the share of agronomy majors alone.
A value of 5% means that about five out of every 100 tertiary graduates represented in that reference year completed a programme classified within broad field 08. It does not mean 5% of the population has an agricultural degree, 5% of workers are employed in agriculture, or 5% of current tertiary students are enrolled in these programmes.
The 155 latest observations are not a synchronized 2020 dataset
The latest observation retained for each economy comes from a different year. There are 56 observations dated 2018 and 33 dated 2019, but only 1 dated 2020. Another 18 are from 2017 and 15 from 2016, while the oldest latest observations go back to 1999. A ranking of all 155 rows as though they described one current year would mix very different education systems and reporting periods.
| Reference year | Countries/areas |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 33 |
| 2018 | 56 |
| 2017 | 18 |
| 2016 | 15 |
| 2015 and earlier | 32 |
Restricting the main comparison to 2018–2020 removes many of the oldest observations, but it still does not create a single-year league table. A 2018 Lao PDR observation and a 2019 Uzbekistan observation can be compared as recent reported field shares, but small percentage differences should not be treated as precise same-year rankings.
The recent median is 1.65%
Across the 90 observations dated 2018–2020, the simple mean is 2.04% and the median is 1.65%. The first quartile is 0.83% and the third quartile is 2.64%. There are 10 reported values of exactly 0%. These are unweighted country-level summaries, not an estimate of the share among all tertiary graduates worldwide.
| 2018–2020 graduate share | Countries/areas |
|---|---|
| 0% | 10 |
| Above 0 to <1% | 15 |
| 1% to <2% | 29 |
| 2% to <3% | 17 |
| 3% to <5% | 14 |
| 5% or more | 5 |
There are 10 observations at 0%, 15 above 0% but below 1%, and 29 from 1% to below 2%. Another 17 fall from 2% to below 3%, 14 from 3% to below 5%, and 5 are at 5% or higher. A recorded 0% is different from an unfilled map area, which can indicate no recent observation or no separate polygon in the low-resolution boundary layer.
Lao PDR, Uzbekistan, Grenada, and Tanzania have the highest recent shares
Lao PDR records 8.53% in 2018, followed by Uzbekistan at 7.81% in 2019, Grenada at 7.41% in 2018, Tanzania at 6.98% in 2019, and Samoa at 5.16% in 2018. Bosnia and Herzegovina is 4.90%, Benin 4.66%, Lesotho 4.44%, Ukraine 4.17%, Rwanda 4.11%, and Indonesia 4.10%. Every percentage should be read together with its reference year.
| Country/area | Reference year | Graduate share |
|---|---|---|
| Lao PDR | 2018 | 8.53% |
| Uzbekistan | 2019 | 7.81% |
| Grenada | 2018 | 7.41% |
| Tanzania | 2019 | 6.98% |
| Samoa | 2018 | 5.16% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2019 | 4.90% |
| Benin | 2018 | 4.66% |
| Lesotho | 2018 | 4.44% |
| Ukraine | 2019 | 4.17% |
| Rwanda | 2019 | 4.11% |
| Indonesia | 2018 | 4.10% |
| Hungary | 2018 | 3.95% |
| Kazakhstan | 2019 | 3.93% |
| Cambodia | 2019 | 3.82% |
| Honduras | 2018 | 3.73% |
A high share does not prove stronger agricultural education, higher farm productivity, or a larger agricultural economy. The percentage can reflect the structure of the tertiary system, total graduate numbers, programme classification, labour-market demand, vocational pathways, and the relative size of other fields. Two countries with the same percentage can also produce very different numbers of graduates if their tertiary systems differ greatly in scale.
Korea reports 1.33% in 2017; India reports 0.99% in 2019
Selected large economies illustrate why the reference year matters. Korea, Rep. reports 1.33% in 2017, the United States 0.89% in 2016, and the United Kingdom 0.98% in 2016. Germany reports 1.83% in 2018, France 1.56%, Canada 1.87%, Australia 0.72%, India 0.99% in 2019, Brazil 2.80% in 2018, and South Africa 2.01% in 2018.
| Country | Reference year | Agriculture/forestry/fisheries/veterinary share |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2018 | 0.72% |
| Brazil | 2018 | 2.80% |
| Canada | 2018 | 1.87% |
| France | 2018 | 1.56% |
| Germany | 2018 | 1.83% |
| India | 2019 | 0.99% |
| Korea, Rep. | 2017 | 1.33% |
| South Africa | 2018 | 2.01% |
| United Kingdom | 2016 | 0.98% |
| United States | 2016 | 0.89% |
Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom are absent from the 2018–2020 map because their latest retained observations are older, not because their value is zero or missing from the full dataset. ‘Latest available’ and ‘same period’ are different concepts in international education statistics, so the percentage and reference year should remain visible together.
The graduate share is not the same as the size of the agricultural economy
This indicator measures the composition of tertiary graduates by field of study. It does not measure agriculture’s share of GDP, agricultural employment, farmland area, food production, or the rural population. A country with a large agricultural sector can still have a modest share of tertiary graduates in field 08, while a country with a smaller agricultural sector can have a higher share because veterinary, forestry, fisheries, research, or specialized agricultural programmes occupy a larger place in its tertiary system.
The dataset also does not show whether graduates subsequently work in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, or veterinary occupations. Employment rates, field-of-study matching, wages, and skill shortages require separate labour-market data. The appropriate interpretation here is the field composition of tertiary graduates in the reported year.
Comparing other graduate fields helps place the share in context
Green Map also has World Bank and UNESCO-based pages for Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction; Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics; and Education. Because all of these indicators use all tertiary graduates as the denominator, they are useful for understanding how graduate fields differ across education systems. However, the latest reference year can differ by country and by field, so the pages should not be combined into a precise same-year allocation table without first aligning years.
In UNESCO ISCED-F 2013, Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary is broad field 08. Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics is field 05; Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction is field 07; and Education is field 01. The framework is designed to map different national programme names into internationally comparable broad fields.
Data source and comparison limits
The numeric source is World Bank indicator SE.TER.GRAD.AG.ZS – Percentage of graduates from tertiary education graduating from Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary programmes, both sexes (%). The field meaning is interpreted with UNESCO ISCED-F 2013, where broad field 08 contains Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary.
- World Bank – SE.TER.GRAD.AG.ZS
- UNESCO UIS – ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013
- UNESCO UIS – Survey of Formal Education Instruction Manual
Across all 155 latest observations, the unweighted median is 1.62% and the mean is 2.09%, but the reference years span 1999–2020, so these should not be described as a current global average. The main map uses the 90 observations dated 2018–2020. ISO-3 codes match 76 of those observations directly to the Natural Earth low-resolution boundary layer; small islands and separately reported territories can have valid statistics without a distinct visible polygon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What subjects are included in this agriculture-related graduate field?
UNESCO ISCED-F broad field 08 includes Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary. Agriculture itself includes areas such as crop and livestock production and horticulture.
Which economy has the highest recent share in the 2018–2020 subset?
Lao PDR is highest at 8.53% in 2018, followed by Uzbekistan at 7.81% in 2019, Grenada at 7.41% in 2018, and Tanzania at 6.98% in 2019.
Why is Korea not shown on the 2018–2020 map?
Korea’s latest retained value in this dataset is 1.33% from 2017. The main map uses only observations dated 2018–2020 to reduce the time gap across countries.
Does a higher share mean agriculture is more important to the economy?
No. The indicator measures the field composition of tertiary graduates, not agricultural GDP, farm employment, farmland, or food production.
Related Articles
The related Green Map pages below use the same broad family of tertiary-graduate field statistics for other subjects.
- Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction Share Among Tertiary Graduates by Country
- Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics Share of Tertiary Graduates
- Education-Field Share Among Tertiary Graduates by Country
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