Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology researches the college-going rate (percentage of students who go on to universities/colleges) every year. According to it, the college-going rate for 4 year-universities/college was 51.5% in 2014.
The following shows the trend of college-going rate in Japan, 1955-2014.
It does not include the students who went to 2-year colleges.
| Year | Population of 18 years old | Number of college enrollment | College going rate (%) |
| 1955 | 1,682,239 | 132,296 | 7.9 |
| 1956 | 1,746,709 | 135,740 | 7.8 |
| 1957 | 1,531,488 | 137,451 | 9.0 |
| 1958 | 1,663,184 | 142,584 | 8.6 |
| 1959 | 1,871,682 | 151,879 | 8.1 |
| 1960 | 1,997,931 | 162,922 | 8.2 |
| 1961 | 1,895,967 | 175,832 | 9.3 |
| 1962 | 1,974,872 | 197,211 | 10.0 |
| 1963 | 1,770,483 | 211,681 | 12.0 |
| 1964 | 1,401,646 | 217,763 | 15.5 |
| 1965 | 1,947,657 | 249,917 | 12.8 |
| 1966 | 2,491,231 | 292,958 | 11.8 |
| 1967 | 2,426,802 | 312,747 | 12.9 |
| 1968 | 2,359,558 | 325,632 | 13.8 |
| 1969 | 2,133,508 | 329,374 | 15.4 |
| 1970 | 1,947,237 | 333,037 | 17.1 |
| 1971 | 1,846,787 | 357,821 | 19.4 |
| 1972 | 1,737,458 | 376,147 | 21.6 |
| 1973 | 1,667,064 | 389,560 | 23.4 |
| 1974 | 1,621,728 | 407,528 | 25.1 |
| 1975 | 1,561,360 | 423,942 | 27.2 |
| 1976 | 1,542,904 | 420,616 | 27.3 |
| 1977 | 1,623,574 | 428,412 | 26.4 |
| 1978 | 1,580,495 | 425,718 | 26.9 |
| 1979 | 1,563,868 | 407,635 | 26.1 |
| 1980 | 1,579,953 | 412,437 | 26.1 |
| 1981 | 1,607,183 | 413,236 | 25.7 |
| 1982 | 1,635,460 | 414,536 | 25.3 |
| 1983 | 1,723,025 | 420,458 | 24.4 |
| 1984 | 1,677,764 | 416,002 | 24.8 |
| 1985 | 1,556,578 | 411,993 | 26.5 |
| 1986 | 1,850,694 | 436,896 | 23.6 |
| 1987 | 1,882,768 | 465,503 | 24.7 |
| 1988 | 1,882,034 | 472,965 | 25.1 |
| 1989 | 1,933,616 | 476,786 | 24.7 |
| 1990 | 2,005,425 | 492,340 | 24.6 |
| 1991 | 2,044,923 | 521,899 | 25.5 |
| 1992 | 2,049,471 | 541,604 | 26.4 |
| 1993 | 1,981,503 | 554,973 | 28.0 |
| 1994 | 1,860,300 | 560,815 | 30.1 |
| 1995 | 1,773,712 | 568,576 | 32.1 |
| 1996 | 1,732,437 | 579,148 | 33.4 |
| 1997 | 1,680,006 | 586,688 | 34.9 |
| 1998 | 1,622,198 | 590,743 | 36.4 |
| 1999 | 1,545,270 | 589,559 | 38.2 |
| 2000 | 1,510,994 | 599,655 | 39.7 |
| 2001 | 1,511,845 | 603,953 | 39.9 |
| 2002 | 1,502,711 | 609,337 | 40.5 |
| 2003 | 1,464,800 | 604,785 | 41.3 |
| 2004 | 1,410,679 | 598,331 | 42.4 |
| 2005 | 1,365,804 | 603,760 | 44.2 |
| 2006 | 1,325,722 | 603,054 | 45.5 |
| 2007 | 1,299,571 | 613,613 | 47.2 |
| 2008 | 1,237,294 | 607,159 | 49.1 |
| 2009 | 1,212,499 | 608,731 | 50.2 |
| 2010 | 1,215,843 | 619,119 | 50.9 |
| 2011 | 1,201,934 | 612,858 | 51.0 |
| 2012 | 1,191,210 | 605,390 | 50.8 |
| 2013 | 1,231,117 | 614,183 | 49.9 |
| 2014 | 1,180,838 | 608,232 | 51.5 |
Source is Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/List.do?bid=000001015843
www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/Xlsdl.do?sinfid=000018434812
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