Percentage of a Country’s Population with a Bachelor’s Degree (or higher)
graph from New York Times Upfront/Scholastic; slow reveal by Jenna Laib
Type of Graph: Bar Graph
Purpose
This slow reveal is designed to support analysis and discussion of both the data and the design choices. The questions in the slide deck invite learners to examine trends, relationships, and possible interpretations.
About This Graph
This visualization is not provided for reuse or redistribution. Readers and educators are encouraged to view the original visualization in its published context.
Original Visualization: New York Times Upfront, “Snapshots 2023-2024.” October 30, 2023; Scholastics’ New York Times Upfront.
Data Source: World Bank 2020, “Educational attainment by level of education, cumulative (% population 25+)“
Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Detailed documentation is available at: https://api.uis.unesco.org/api/public/documentation/, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), type: Bulk file (csv), date accessed: 2025-09-22, date published: 2025-09-22.
In The Classroom
There are many different mathematical connections that can be made to this data and data visualization.
Potential Math Content: percentages, estimating values, relationships
Potential Content Connections: international, geography, education
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I’m confused by the difference between the last two graphs: for example, should the UK be above or below the US? I guess it’s just down to different data sources.
The CBRE data for the last slide only looked at OECD countries, so that explains the highly-educated countries missing from that last slide.
I don’t see anything explaining how the countries were selected for the main slow reveal, though – was this just a personal choice to get a set of countries and show the big gap to UAE?
Excellent points!!
As for the discrepancies: yes, I think it comes down to different data sources. I haven’t taken a deep dive into their methodologies, but now I’m curious. Originally, I was going to do a slow reveal of the second graph because I think the data is more interesting — looking at the proportions — but ultimately, my laptop is too small to be messing around with that data viz. Then I found the one from NYT/Scholastic that felt more manageable.
It looks like the NYT one mostly aligns with the WorldBank data here:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.CUAT.BA.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=true
And then it uses the top 10 highest percentages — but seems to be missing Ireland? That data is also in conflict with other resources I just located, including one that lists Bermuada as having the highest rate of postgrad attainment.
Ultimately: I find this perplexing! I’m not really sure what I’d want students to take away from it, but I do find it still interesting? I also know that degrees are not a universal benchmark for standards. My North African husband is confused that we seem to give most people high school degrees if they persist in going to school and getting vaguely passing grades. He had to take a terrifying high stakes test.