Canada

Fifty-one percent of Canadian residents have some form of educational beyond high school. That rate grew 2.4 percent between 2000 and 2010. Canada is the sole nation that can boast having more than 50 percent of its residents earning a higher education. Surprisingly, Canada is not a world leader in educational spending, with funds dedicated to schools equaling around 6 percent of the gross domestic product.

Israel

Forty-six percent of Israeli residents have earned a tertiary education. The country boasts other educational highs, with a high school education rate of 92 percent, and new legislations making preschool free as of 2012. The country spends 7.2 percent of GDP on educational funding.

Japan

Forty-five percent of those living in Japan have attained education beyond high school. This rate grew by 2.9 percent between 2000 and 2010. Japan’s high college attendance rate is helped by its outstanding high school graduation rate of 96 percent —the second highest in the world. However, college graduates in Japan have a particularly hard time finding work, with 15 percent of graduates ending up without jobs.

United States

Forty-two percent of U.S. residents achieve an education beyond high school, making the U.S. one of only a handful of nations in which more than 40 percent of the population receives a tertiary education. However, the college graduation rate is around 77 percent, which is below the international average. That being said, the U.S. is one of the highest spenders in regards to education.

New Zealand

Forty-one percent of New Zealand’s population achieves a tertiary education. The small country experienced a 13.2 percent population growth between 2000 and 2010, and its education system experienced a similar growth. The number of individuals with a college education increased from 29 percent to 41 percent within that time.

South Korea

Forty percent of South Korea’s population earns a tertiary education and personal spending on education is very high in South Korea. In 2009, only Iceland directed more funds towards education that South Korea. The unemployment rate for those with a post-high school degree is low, around 3 percent.

United Kingdom

Thirty-eight percent of the U.K. population earns a post high school education. The U.K. is also a popular college destination for students from all over the world, with 16 percent of most college enrollment made up of international students. U.K. schools receive substantial private funding with funds from private sources increasing from 14.1 percent in 2000 to 31.1 percent in 2009.

Finland

Thirty-eight percent of Finland’s population receives a post-high school education. Finland spends more public funds on education than any other nation, with 97.6 percent of its 6.4 percent GDP spent on education programs coming from public sources. Finnish job seekers with college degrees are twice as likely to become employed as those without.

Australia

Thirty-eight percent of Australia’s population achieves a tertiary education, and Australia— like the U.K. — is a popular college destination for international students with 21.2 percent making up college enrollments. Unemployment rates are very low for those with college degrees, at just around 2 percent.

Ireland

Thirty-seven percent of Ireland’s population earns a post-high school degree, and that’s a figure that almost doubled between 2000 and 2010. High school graduation rates also rose drastically during that time, from 74 percent to 94 percent. Particularly for men, having a tertiary degree is crucial to the job search, with only 6.3 percent of males with a college degree facing unemployment, versus the national average of 15.2 percent.