Pre-Primary Enrollment Highest in Italy and France

"Smells are surer than sounds and sights to make the heartstrings crack."
–Rudyard Kipling

PRE-PRIMARY ENROLLMENT HIGHEST IN ITALY AND FRANCE

Among the most industrialized nations, Italy and France have by far the highest enrollment of young children in preprimary programs.  According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the percentage of children ages 3 to 5 in preprimary programs in 1999 is....

France     100%
Italy            98%
Japan         83%
Germany    72%
USA           64%
UK             49%
Canada      44%

These statistics appeared in "Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2002" published by the National Center for Education Statistics.  To access this report go to:
http://www.ecs.org/html/offsite.asp?document=http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003026