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

By gender, 2013–2023, number of school leavers

The following information applies to all values in the table. Unit: Number, Measure: School leavers staying on at school to age 17
Year	Gender	Number of school leavers
2013	Female	26,604
2014	Female	25,224
2015	Female	25,825
2016	Female	25,828
2017	Female	26,735
2018	Female	25,979
2019	Female	25,485
2020	Female	25,288
2021	Female	26,246
2022	Female	26,326
2023	Female	26,404
2013	Male	25,818
2014	Male	24,709
2015	Male	25,454
2016	Male	25,262
2017	Male	25,904
2018	Male	25,175
2019	Male	24,173
2020	Male	24,716
2021	Male	25,624
2022	Male	25,021
2023	Male	25,304

Notes

Definitions

Retention Rate: Percentage of students staying on at school to age 17.
School leavers: School leavers in 2023 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 2023 and the last day of February 2024 (inclusive). School leavers are identified using ENROL.

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 2023 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 2024 but leave before 1 March 2024 are counted with 2023 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.