The demand for highly skilled staff is constantly increasing, which means that tertiary education is becoming more important. 42% of the EU’s population aged 25-34 years currently have attained tertiary education, and almost half of the EU member states have already reached the target for 2030.
Ireland first, Luxembourg second
With 62%, Ireland has the highest share of people between 25 and 34 years with tertiary education. Luxembourg comes second with 61%, followed by Cyprus, Lithuania and the Netherlands.
Gender and age variations
More women than men have post-secondary education. 47.6% of women in the EU aged 25-34 have completed tertiary education compared to 36.5% of men. The corresponding figures for Luxembourg are 64.8% for women and 57.4% for men.
Overtime, the overall educational levels have increased, and on average, younger people attain high levels of education than older ones. In 2022, 81.9 % of people aged 25–54 years in the EU – and 84.3% in Luxembourg – had completed at least an upper secondary level of education, compared with 68.4 % (69% in Luxembourg) of those aged 55–74 years.