Comparison of the number of top 500 universities by country
The map above tells some interesting stories. On the face of it, the U.S. is a clear leader in higher education, accounting for 146 of the world's top 500 universities (29.2%). This is more than three times that of China, which is in second place.
However, that's not the only interesting thing.
On the face of it, most countries in the world do not have a single university ranked in the top 500 in the world. This means that many developing countries today may find it difficult to transition their economies to a knowledge-based economy in the process of development.
The data comes from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking system, and the details determine success or failure. For example, while China has the second-highest ranking of the top 500 universities, there is not a single university in the top 100. This shows that while China is closing the gap with the United States, it still has a long way to go.
If divided by region, Europe still tops the list with 205 universities, followed by the Americas (North and South America) with 176 universities, the Asia-Pacific region with 114, and Africa with only 5. However, if you look at the best universities, the United States is in the lead, with 16 in the top 20 and 55 in the top 100. Europe, on the other hand, has only 4 universities in the top 20 and 35 universities in the top 100.
Comparison of the number of top 500 universities by country
Comparison of the number of top 500 universities by country
Another way to look at the data is to look at the number of universities in the top 500 per million population, which would result in a completely different set of rankings:
- Sweden: 1.147
- Finland: 1.103
- Denmark: 0.891
- Switzerland: 0.866
- Australia: 0.865
- Israel: 0.745
- Netherlands: 0.714
- Austria: 0.708
- Ireland: 0.653
- Belgium: 0.625
- Norway: 0.590
- Canada: 0.569
- UK: 0.577
- Slovenia: 0.485
- Germany: 0.484
- United States: 0.458
- New Zealand: 0.447
- Singapore: 0.370
- Italy: 0.334
- France: 0.333
- Portugal: 0.287
- Spain: 0.278
- South Korea: 0.239
- Hungary: 0.202
- Greece: 0.181
- Japan: 0.141
- Serbia: 0.140
- Saudi Arabia: 0.139
- Chile: 0.114
- Czech Republic: 0.095
- South Africa: 0.076
- Malaysia: 0.67
- Poland: 0.052
- China: 0.032
- Brazil: 0.030
- Iran: 0.026
- Argentina: 0.024
- Russia: 0.014
- Turkey: 0.013
- Egypt: 0.012
- Mexico: 0.008
- India: 0.001