Nicosia: In 2024, Cyprus ranked third among European Union countries in tertiary education attainment rate, reaching 60.1%, trailing only behind Ireland at 65.2% and Luxembourg at 63.8%.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the tertiary education attainment rate measures the proportion of individuals aged 25 to 34 who have completed higher education. It serves as a Eurostat indicator to monitor progress in achieving the sustainable development goal ‘quality education’ (SDG 4). This goal aims to ensure lifelong access to quality education and enhance the number of young people and adults with skills relevant for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.
In 2024, the European Union’s average tertiary education attainment rate stood at 44.1%, showing a notable rise from 39.6% in 2019. This increase indicates that the EU is on course to meet its European Education Area strategic framework 2030 target, which aspires to raise the share to at least 45%.
The countries recording the lowest rates were Romania at 23.2%, Italy at 31.6%, and Hungary at 32.3%.
There was a marked disparity between women and men in the EU, with women achieving a rate of 49.8% compared to men’s 38.6%. Women outperformed men in tertiary educational attainment across the EU, with notable gaps exceeding 20 percentage points in Slovenia (55.7% for women vs 32.0% for men), Latvia (56.8% vs 33.9%), Estonia (53.9% vs 32.3%), and Croatia (50.1% vs 29.6%).