percentage

percentage
per‧cen‧tage W3 AC /pəˈsentɪdʒ $ pər-/ noun1. [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.