Rich nations have most of the 500 world-class universities, as one should expect. Asian rising influence is shown by the presence of China, Japan and Korea amongst the top 20. At the opposite side of the spectrum, Latin America and Africa appear as the poor or even destitute relatives of the family. A question to ask is whether wealthy countries are rich because they have fine universities, or whether they have good universities because this a luxury they can afford.
500 World-Class Universities | ||||||||
Country | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Number | % | |||||||
| USA | 161 | 170 | 168 | 167 | 166 | 159 | 152 | 30.3% |
| Germany | 42 | 43 | 40 | 40 | 41 | 40 | 40 | 8.0% |
| United Kingdom | 42 | 42 | 40 | 43 | 42 | 42 | 40 | 8.0% |
| Japan | 36 | 36 | 34 | 32 | 33 | 31 | 31 | 6.2% |
| China | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 30 | 30 | 6.0% |
| France | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 4.6% |
| Canada | 24 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 4.4% |
| Italy | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 4.2% |
| Australia | 13 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 3.4% |
| Netherlands | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 2.4% |
| Spain | 13 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 2.2% |
| Sweden | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 2.2% |
| Korea | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 1.8% |
| Switzerland | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1.6% |
| Austria | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1.4% |
| Belgium | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1.4% |
| Israel | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 1.4% |
| Brazil | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1.2% |
| Finland | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1.0% |
| New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1.0% |
| Denmark | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0.8% |
| Norway | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0.8% |
| Ireland | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0.6% |
| South Africa | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0.6% |
| Chile | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Greece | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Hungary | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| India | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Poland | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Portugal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Russia | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Singapore | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Argentina | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Czech | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Mexico | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Turkey | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Egypt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Hong Kong | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Taiwan | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Total | 500 | 502 | 500 | 500 | 510 | 503 | 501 | 100.0% |
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Sources: see Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai.
