The World Top 20 Education Poll provides annual rankings of the top 20 education systems out of 209 nations based on 5 criteria: early childhood enrollment rates, elementary/middle/high school test scores, and college graduation rates. South Korea ranked #1 in 2016 with the highest scores in early childhood enrollment and elementary/middle school levels as well as high college graduation rates. Japan and Russia followed as #2 and #3, respectively. The report lists the top 20 countries, their scores on each criterion, and current head of government.
2. The World Top 20 Education Poll provides annual international rankings of the top 20
education systems out of 209 nations.
The ranking system mission is to identify the nations that provide the best learning
environment for student’s 3 to 25. The poll also recognizes each nation’s top Government
leader.
How Each Country is Ranked:
Each country’s ranking is based on five educational levels: early-childhood enrollment
rates, Elementary Math, Science and Reading scores, Middle-School Math, Science and
Reading scores, High School Graduation rates, and College Graduation rates.
Each level consists of ranking the top 20 countries by giving a country 20 points for a first
place rank, 19 for a second place rank, and so on down to 1 point for a twenty rank. The
data is then used to produce the nation’s ranking from a combined score from all 5 levels.
The 2016 results are:
3. 1. SOUTH KOREA 83 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 13
Elementary Level: 2
Middle-School Level: 2
High School Graduation Rate: 4
College Graduation Rate: 1
South Korea President - Park Geun-Hye
4. 2. JAPAN 80 pts
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 15
Elementary Level: 3
Middle-School Level: 4
High School Graduation Rate: 1
College Graduation Rate: 2
Japan Prime Minister – Shinzo Abe
5. 3. RUSSIA 59 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: 6
Middle-School Level: 8
High School Graduation Rate: 7
College Graduation Rate: 4
Russia President - Vladimir Putin
6. 4. SINGAPORE 49 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: 1
Middle-School Level: 1
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: 12
Singapore Prime Minister – Lee Hsien Loong
7. 5. FINLAND 48 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: 7
Middle-School Level: 7
High School Graduation Rate: 2
College Graduation Rate: 20
Finland President - Sauli Niinistö
8. 6. United Kingdom 46 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 12
Elementary Level: 9
Middle-School Level: 10
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: 7
United Kingdom Prime Minister – Theresa May
9. 7. USA 41 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 11
Elementary Level: 8
Middle-School Level: 13
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: 11
United States President – Barack Obama
10. 8. DENMARK 41 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 5
Elementary Level: 13
Middle-School Level: NR
High School Graduation Rate: 8
College Graduation Rate: 17
Denmark Prime Minister – Lars Løkke Rasmussen
11. 9. CHINA 37 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: 5
Middle-School Level: 3
High School Graduation Rate: 18
College Graduation Rate: NR
China President - Xi Jinping
12. 10. NETHERLANDS 37 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 16
Elementary Level: 18
Middle-School Level: 14
High School Graduation Rate: 5
College Graduation Rate: 15
Netherlands Prime Minister – Mark Rutte
13. 11. ISRAEL 37 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 2
Elementary Level: NR
Middle-School Level: 20
High School Graduation Rate: 12
College Graduation Rate: 13
Israel Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu
14. 12. CANADA 34 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: NR
Middle-School Level: 12
High School Graduation Rate: 14
College Graduation Rate: 3
Canada Prime Minister – Justin Trudeau
15. 13. GERMANY 32 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 6
Elementary Level: 19
Middle-School Level: 17
High School Graduation Rate: 10
College Graduation Rate: NR
Germany Chancellor – Angela Merkel
16. 14. Hong Kong 32 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: 4
Middle-School Level: 6
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: NR
Hong Kong Chief Executive – Leung Chun-ying
17. 15. IRELAND 31 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: NR
Elementary Level: 11
Middle-School Level: 16
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: 5
Ireland President – Michael D. Higgins
18. 16. NORWAY 31 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 7
Elementary Level: 17
Middle-School Level: NR
High School Graduation Rate: 19
College Graduation Rate: 10
Norway Prime Minister – Erna Solberg
19. 17. SLOVENIA 28 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 18
Elementary Level: 16
Middle-School Level: 9
High School Graduation Rate: 13
College Graduation Rate: NR
Slovenia President - Borut Pahor
20. 18. SWEDEN 27 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 10
Elementary Level: 12
Middle-School Level: NR
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: 14
Sweden Prime Minister – Stefan Löfven
21. 19. FRANCE 25 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 1
Elementary Level: NR
Middle-School Level: NR
High School Graduation Rate: NR
College Graduation Rate: 16
France President - François Hollande
22. 20. HUNGARY 25 PTS
Early- Childhood Enrollment: 17
Elementary Level: 10
Middle-School Level: 15
High School Graduation Rate: 17
College Graduation Rate: NR
Hungary President - János Áder