Iceland is a developed country whose education system is somewhat similar to that of the United States. It is mandatory for students ages 6-16 to attend school, which contributes to the 99% literacy rate. Iceland promotes the ideology that everyone in the country should have access to a quality education no matter what gender, socioeconomic status, physical ability, intellectual ability, race, and so forth. Therefore, the Parliament provides most of the funding for schools throughout the country; although there are some private institutions, publicly funded schools are much more abundant and attended throughout the country. As a developed country, there is a substantial amount of industrialization, and over half of the country's population lives in its capital, Reykjavik. Therefore, most of the educational facilities- including the country's largest university- are located within the city. There is a low unemployment rate in Iceland, which allows students to enter school with less of a concern for fiscal or familial burdens. Icelandic is the official instructional and conversational language in this country, and students who are non-native speakers of Icelandic, must take a supplementary course to learn this challenging language. Students receive a comprehensive curriculum, starting with Pre-Primary school and progressing to Compulsory education, Upper Secondary education, and Higher Secondary education. Women typically complete around 20 years of schooling, whereas men might complete closer to 18 years. Educational expenditures constitute 
7.8% of the country's GDP.