Source: Schengen Visa Info
41 percent of young adults across the European Member States have completed tertiary education, with women being the leading gender.
The top 3 countries in the EU showing a majority of their adult population being educated in third level studies are Luxembourg at 62.6%, followed by Ireland at 61.7% and Cyprus at 58.3%
According to the European Statistics Office, Eurostat, 47 percent of women and 36 percent of men aged 25 to 34 have collected a degree in 2021, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“While the share of men with tertiary education has been on the increase over the last ten years, the rate of growth has been somewhat slower than for women. As a result, the gender gap has become slightly broader over time,” Eurostat explains.
The 27-nation-bloc has set a goal of increasing the share of the EU population of this age group who have completed tertiary education to 45 percent by 2030.
The majority of the EU Member States have already reached this goal with Luxembourg having the highest percentage points of the population aged between 25 and 34 that have finished their tertiary education – a total of 62.6 percent.
Ireland follows, with 61.7 percent of the young adult population having a higher education degree, while Cyprus is listed third with 58.3 percent of the population being educated with the third level of studies.
However, countries with the lowest percentage rates include Romania (23.3 percent), Italy (28.3 percent) and Hungary (32.9 percent).
Furthermore, Bulgaria and Czechia have both scored under 35 percentage points – 33.6 percent and 34.9 percent, respectively, while Croatia and Germany have identical rates of young adults who finished higher education. More specifically, 35.7 percent of the population in Croatia and Germany have finished this level of education.
In between the countries with lower rates, such as Romania and Italy, stand countries with less than 45 percent of the young adult population who have finished tertiary education, which is as follows:
Slovakia (39.5 percent)
Finland (40.1 percent)
Poland (40.6 percent)
Austria and Malta (42.4 percent)
Estonia (43.2 percent)
Greece (44.2 percent)
Latvia surpassed the 45 percent mark by 0.5 percent, while Portugal and Slovenia scored 47.5 percent and 47.9 percent, respectively.
The remaining countries include some of the countries with the highest percentage rates, and the majority are Western European countries such as France (50.3 percent), the Netherlands (55.6 percent), and Belgium (50.9 percent).
On the other hand, Denmark (49.1 percent), Sweden (49.3 percent), and Lithuania (57.5 percent) were all ranked high on this list, while Spain stood at 48.7 percent.
Norway and Switzerland recorded high rates of the young adult population with higher education – 55.1 percent and 52.3 percent, while Iceland’s young adult population that has tertiary education peaked at 41.5 percent.
