<p>Here are the durations of compulsory years of education for different countries. Notice that quite a few first-world countries require less than 12 years, including Norway, France, Australia, Canada. These are not slacker countries-- ok, you could argue about France…
[Duration</a> of compulsory education statistics - Countries compared - NationMaster](<a href=“http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_dur_of_com_edu-education-duration-of-compulsory]Duration”>http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_dur_of_com_edu-education-duration-of-compulsory)</p>