Latvia: Secondary education, vocational pupils

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2017, Latvia's secondary education, vocational pupils rose 2.5% on 2016 (from 23,325 to 23,901).

Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1990 to 2016), the average change was −4.1% and a typical year strayed about 6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 14% in 2000 and the biggest yearly fall was 19.4% in 1998. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2017 the straight-line trend is downward, about 1,607 a year. A straight line explains 96% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 18,697 for 2020. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2015 to 2017 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1,604, against 2,757 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2017, Latvia had the 48th highest value of the 61 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Latvia in the 2017 ranking

• Togo — 45th of 61: 42,212
• Sudan — 46th of 61: 24,900
• Lithuania — 47th of 61: 24,108
• Ireland — 49th of 61: 19,280
• Estonia — 50th of 61: 19,102
• Luxembourg — 51st of 61: 16,067

What this measures

Secondary vocational pupils are the number of secondary students enrolled in technical and vocational education programs, including teacher training.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.

All 31 values

Secondary education, vocational pupils in nearby economies

• Albania — 20,605 (2018)
• Andorra — 488 (2018)
• Armenia — 19,676 (2018)
• Austria — 238,161 (2017)
• Azerbaijan — 152,777 (2018)
• Belarus — 82,592 (2018)
• Belgium — 524,924 (2017)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 94,557 (2018)
• Bulgaria — 141,163 (2017)
• Croatia — 132,833 (2017)
• Cyprus

More education data for Latvia

• Primary school starting age (years) — 7 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 13 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 123,956 (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 9,966 (2024)
• Secondary education, pupils — 123,994 (2024)
• Pupil-teacher ratio, primary — 11.54 (2017)
• Secondary education, teachers — 12,484 (2024)
• Pupil-teacher ratio, lower secondary — 7.48 (2017)
• Pupil-teacher ratio, tertiary

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Latvia's secondary education, vocational pupils?

23,901 in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1981?

It is down 68.07% from 74,852 in 1981 (3.12% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 79,099 in 1986 and the lowest 23,325 in 2016.

How does Latvia rank?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.SEC.ENRL.VO, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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