School leavers staying on at school until age 17 in New Zealand

By gender, 2015–2025, % of people

The following information applies to all values in the table. Measure: School leavers staying on at school to age 17, Unit: Percentage
Year	Gender	% of people
2015	Female	88.1%
2016	Female	87.7%
2017	Female	87.1%
2018	Female	87.5%
2019	Female	86.5%
2020	Female	87.2%
2021	Female	85.8%
2022	Female	83.1%
2023	Female	82.5%
2024	Female	84.3%
2025	Female	85.1%
2015	Male	82.1%
2016	Male	81.6%
2017	Male	81.4%
2018	Male	80.6%
2019	Male	79.8%
2020	Male	81.5%
2021	Male	79%
2022	Male	76.7%
2023	Male	77%
2024	Male	78.6%
2025	Male	80.9%

Notes

Definitions

Retention Rate: Percentage of students staying on at school to age 17.
School leavers: School leavers in 2025 are students that permanently left school to enter the workforce and/or undertake further education and training outside of the compulsory schooling system sometime between 1 March 2025 and the last day of February 2026 (inclusive). School leavers are identified using ENROL.

For more information

https://www2.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/about-ncea/#e1158_heading1

Inclusions

Domestic students who were aged less than 19 in their first enrolment in ENROL; including alternative education students, students 16 or over on 1 March 2024 and students attending teen parent units.
Students with leave reason; 'end of schooling' or 'early leaving exemption'
Students with leave reason 'transferred to another school in New Zealand' or 'transferred to home schooling' but did not re-enrol in another school according to ENROL
Students with leave reason 'gone overseas permanently', who meet the age criteria
Students who attend for a period of time at the start of 2025 but leave before 1 March 2025 are counted with 2024 leavers.

Exclusions

Returning adult students (aged 19 or more) with a year gap in their attendance
Exchange and International fee-paying students
Students who successfully transferred to another school in New Zealand or to home schooling
Deceased students.