per ‧ cen ‧ tage W3 AC /pəˈsentɪdʒ $ pər-/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: noun : precent, ↑ percentage ; adverb : ↑ percent ; adjective : ↑ percent ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] an amount expressed as if it is part of a total which is 100
percentage of
The percentage of school leavers that go to university is about five per cent.
Tax is paid as a percentage of total income.
high/low/small percentage
A high percentage of married women have part-time jobs.
Interest rates fell by six percentage points (=6%) .
The numbers are small in percentage terms (=when calculated as a percentage) .
percentage change/increase etc
Crime figures showed significant percentage increases.
GRAMMAR
If the noun that follows a percentage of is plural, use a plural verb after it:
▪
Only a small percentage of people are interested in politics.
2 . [countable usually singular] a share of the profits:
She gets a percentage for every record sold.
3 . there is no percentage in doing something British English informal used to say that doing something is not going to help or be useful:
There’s no percentage in worrying.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ high/large
A high percentage of our students pass the exam.
▪ small/low
Only a small percentage of people suffer from the allergy.
▪ significant
We get a significant percentage of our oil from Nigeria and Angola.
■ percentage + NOUN
▪ a percentage point (=one percent)
The party increased its share of the vote by almost 4 percentage points.
▪ a percentage increase/change
Poorer pensioners experienced the greatest percentage increase in their pensions.
■ phrases
▪ in percentage terms
The quantity of carbon dioxide was, in percentage terms, extremely small.
■ verbs
▪ express something as a percentage
The number is expressed as a percentage of the total population of the country.