"Education at a Glance 2012: Highlights" offers a reader-friendly introduction to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) collection of internationally comparable data on education. As the name suggests, it is derived from "Education at a Glance 2012", the OECD's flagship compendium of education statistics. However, it differs from that publication in a number of ways, most significantly in its structure, which is made up of five sections that explore the following topics: (1) Education levels and student numbers: This section looks at education levels in the general population, how and where young people are studying and how well they make the transition into the world of work; (2) The economic and social benefits of education: This section looks at the extent to which education brings economic gains to individuals, in the form of higher incomes and lower unemployment rates, and at how these benefits serve as an incentive for people and societies to invest in education. It also examines the societal benefits related to having a highly educated population; (3) Paying for education: This section looks at how much countries spend on education, the role of private spending, what education money is spent on and whether countries are getting value for money; (4) The school environment: This section looks at how much time teachers spend at work, and how much of that time is spent teaching, class sizes, teachers' salaries and the age and gender distribution of teachers; and (5) Equity: This special section looks at issues relating to equity in education, particularly the accessibility of education at all levels, intergenerational mobility, gender gaps in education and the impact of socio-economic background on student performance, especially for the children of immigrants. In general, this publication uses the terminology employed in "Education at a Glance 2012". However, in one or two places terminology has been simplified. Readers who want to find out more should consult the "Reader's Guide". Tables and figures in this volume are accompanied by a dynamic hyperlink, or StatLink, that will direct readers to an Internet site where the corresponding data are available in Excel[TM] format. In addition, reference is sometimes made in the text to figures and tables that appear in "Education at a Glance 2012". This material can generally be accessed via the StatLinks accompanying the tables and figures in the relevant indicator, or at www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012. (Contains 68 figures.) [For the full report, "Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators," see ED535122.]