The World Top 20 Education Poll first annual winner is: Japan. Who led all four quarters this year, with 87 points; followed by South Korea, the UK, Singapore, Russia and a distance six, the pre-poll favors Finland.
Japan overwhelmingly wins over 200 countries with the best education system structure for students 3 to 25. Which, shocks the world, with Finland being, perceived has the world best for the last half-decade.
Numbers don’t lie, they may not tell the whole story, but, they cannot be denied. Japan outperformed Finland in all 5 major educational development areas. Early-Childhood enrollment (3 and 4 year old), Japan ranks 7th overall internationally compared to Finland that does not offer early-childhood education.
The most shocking news was Japan also out performed Finland in student reading, math and science scores in primary education at the 4th grade (8-9 year old) and 8th grade (12-14 year old) levels. Japan also had higher high school graduation rates (17 to 19 year old) 96% to 93%, and college graduation rates (18 to 25 year old) 57% to 39%.
Other surprises in the 2013 Poll, was how well some countries outperformed others that spend more per student. The United States had the highest per cost per student ($15, 172) but ranked 18th; countries like Estonia 17th ($6, 126), Finland 6th ($10, 157) and even first place Japan spends less ($10, 596) per student.
Next year’s Poll 2014, indicates Japan and other Asian nations rankings positions will be strong or even better, based on this year’s OECD PISA test results.
As we await, the results from 4 other international education sources (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO); The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS); Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS), and confirmed the data with over 100 nations for next year.
The World Top 20 Poll mission is to assure Every Child is afforded the opportunity to reach their full potential. If you would like to learn more, or join the campaign’s mission please visit their website at and like us on Facebook at
