Gap years are often associated with international travel, but the available research shows a broader picture: structured programs, paid work, language learning, volunteering, and study all feature prominently. In the 2020 Gap Year Association survey, 89% of participants traveled outside the United States or Canada, while a separate English longitudinal study found that paid work was the main activity for more than 60% of gap-year takers. The figures below combine those two sources, so the geography, samples, and measurement periods are kept explicit.
Contents
- Who takes a gap year and how it is planned
- How international is the experience?
- Destinations and regions
- Duration and spending
- Travel, work, volunteering, and study
- Why people take a gap year
- Education and longer-term outcomes
Who takes a gap year and how it is planned
The 2020 Gap Year Alumni Survey 2020 describes gap years as concentrated around the transition out of secondary education. Eighty percent of respondents took their gap year between ages 18 and 21. Fourteen percent were under 18, while 5% were over 21. These percentages describe the survey respondents and should not be treated as a universal age distribution for every country or type of gap-year experience.
Planning is also common, although not every gap year begins as a fixed plan. In the English LSYPE Wave 6 data from summer 2009, 71.6% of official gap-year takers had previously intended to take a gap year, compared with 19.5% who had not intended to do so. The same research classified 34.3% as intentional deferrers of an accepted university place and 15.8% as unintended deferrers. Another 9.3% had applied for university but had no accepted offer.
University applications were part of the pathway for many English gap-year takers. In the LSYPE Wave 6 results, 59.4% had applied to university in Year 13. A further 29.8% had not applied to university in Year 13 but intended to take a gap year. The English figures come from Gap year takers: uptake, trends and long term outcomes, and measure a specific longitudinal cohort rather than all young travelers.
How international is the experience?
International travel is a defining part of many surveyed gap years. The Gap Year Association reported that 89% of participants traveled outside the United States or Canada during their gap year. Among participants who traveled abroad, 77% also joined a structured program. That combination suggests that overseas travel was frequently organized around a course, service placement, educational program, or another formal framework rather than being only independent tourism. Both figures refer to the association’s 2020 survey.
The English longitudinal data provides a useful comparison because it measures travel alongside work and education. About 57% of English gap-year takers who intended to take a gap year reported traveling during it. Travel was also reported by about 29% of those who did not intend to take a gap year. The difference describes groups within the LSYPE study; it is not an estimate of a global travel rate.
International work was less common than travel overall in that English cohort. About 16% of English gap-year takers who intended to take a gap year worked abroad, compared with about 5% of those who did not intend to take one. At the same time, more than 80% of English gap-year takers worked in Britain at some point during their gap year. The data therefore points to a mixed model: a gap year could include overseas travel while still being anchored by employment at home.
Destinations and regions
The 2020 Gap Year Association survey recorded the regions that appeared among participants’ top three destinations. Because respondents could identify multiple regions, the percentages are not intended to add to 100%.
| Destination region | Share appearing among top three |
|---|---|
| Europe | 32% |
| Asia | 29% |
| Middle East, including Egypt and Turkey | 25% |
| North America | 24% |
| South America | 22% |
| Africa | 19% |
| Central America and the Caribbean | 17% |
| South Pacific and Oceania | 13% |
Europe appeared among the top three destination regions for 32% of participants, followed by Asia at 29%. The Middle East, including Egypt and Turkey, appeared for 25%, while North America appeared for 24%. South America appeared for 22% and Africa for 19%. Central America and the Caribbean appeared for 17%, and the South Pacific and Oceania appeared for 13%. These are destination-selection measures from the 2020 survey, not shares of all nights, trips, or travelers.
At the individual-country level, Israel ranked number one among destinations reported in the 2020 Gap Year Association survey, while the United States ranked number two. Those rankings sit alongside the survey’s broader international-travel result: participants could travel internationally and still include the United States among their reported destinations.
Duration and spending
Most respondents in the 2020 Gap Year Association survey described a gap-year experience lasting between seven and twelve months. The duration distribution was 21% for two to six months, 67% for seven to twelve months, 8% for thirteen to twenty-four months, and 3% for more than twenty-four months.
| Reported gap-year duration | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| 2–6 months | 21% |
| 7–12 months | 67% |
| 13–24 months | 8% |
| More than 24 months | 3% |
Spending varied substantially. Fifty-two percent of respondents spent $10,000 or less on their gap year, while 34% spent more than $10,000. A separate threshold shows that 33% spent $5,000 or less. The categories should not be combined into a complete spending distribution because the supplied survey results do not provide every mutually exclusive bracket.
Income was not universal during the experience. Sixty percent of Gap Year Association respondents did not earn any money during their gap year. This helps explain why budget planning matters even when a gap year includes work: paid employment was common in the English cohort, but the association survey found that most respondents did not earn money. The two results come from different populations and periods, so they should be read as complementary evidence rather than one combined estimate.
Travel, work, volunteering, and study
Gap-year travel commonly overlaps with structured learning and service. In the 2020 Gap Year Association survey, 79% of participants engaged in volunteer or service work and 76% engaged in language learning. Academic coursework was reported by 61%, and 37% said they received college credit during their gap year.
The English LSYPE data emphasizes employment. In Wave 5, covering 2008–2009, more than 40% of English gap-year intenders listed working in Britain as their main planned activity, while 12% listed working abroad. In Wave 6, measured in summer 2009, more than 60% of gap-year takers reported paid work as their main activity. About 25% reported waiting for a course to start as their main activity.
These figures show why “gap year travel” can describe several different patterns. One participant may combine travel, service, and language study; another may work at home before university begins; another may wait for a course start date. In the English data, more than 80% worked in Britain at some point, about 57% of intended gap-year takers traveled, and about 16% worked abroad. The activities overlap, so the percentages are not a single classification of travelers.
Why people take a gap year
Personal development was the leading motivation reported in the 2020 Gap Year Association survey. Eighty-one percent said they were motivated by gaining life experience and personal growth. Travel and experiencing other cultures motivated 70%.
The English LSYPE Wave 5 results from 2008–2009 provide a different view by asking gap-year intenders for their main reason. About 33% gave becoming independent as their main reason, about 25% said taking a break from study, and 20% said earning money. These measures are not directly interchangeable with the Gap Year Association’s multi-response motivation results, but they point to the same broad combination of independence, rest, finances, and cultural experience.
For travelers planning a gap year, the distinction between a main reason and a list of motivations is important. A person can prioritize independence while also planning language learning, or choose travel while expecting to work. The available figures support those overlapping goals without establishing that one activity causes another.
Education and longer-term outcomes
The What is the Gap Year? press kit reports strongly positive self-assessments from Gap Year Association alumni in 2020. Ninety-five percent said their gap year prepared them somewhat or very well for their next step. Eighty-two percent said it gave them a competitive advantage when applying to college or jobs. Ninety-seven percent reported increased self-confidence, and 81% said the experience influenced their career choice. These are alumni-reported outcomes, not independently measured causal effects.
The English longitudinal study records education status after the gap year. At age 19, 85.9% of English gap-year takers were in higher education, 9.0% were in work, and 5.0% were in another activity. Among those who had accepted a university place in Year 13, 91.0% were in higher education at age 19. The corresponding figure for gap-year takers who had not accepted a university place in Year 13 was 81.0%.
Longer-term results are more mixed and should be read as estimates from historical research, not promises for a current traveler. Before controls, English gap-year takers were 1.6 percentage points more likely to receive a first or upper-second degree than people who went straight to higher education. After background controls, the estimated difference rose to 4.9 percentage points in the British Cohort Study adult follow-up.
Wage estimates did not show the same pattern. After background controls, English gap-year takers had estimated hourly wages 6.5% below direct entrants at age 30. The estimated difference was 3.9% lower at age 34 and was not statistically significant. At age 38, hourly wages were estimated at 1.7% below direct entrants. These legacy findings come from the cited British Cohort Study analysis and should not be presented as independently verified current labor-market effects.
Together, the evidence describes a gap year as a varied transition period: often international, frequently structured, and commonly mixed with work, service, language learning, or coursework. The most reliable interpretation is therefore not that every gap year produces the same result, but that the experience’s travel pattern, funding, timing, and educational pathway matter when comparing outcomes.