Europeans are more educated than ever, and women exceed men’s performance in almost every country in the European Union (EU), according to the latest Eurostat figures. However, Romania is at the bottom of the ranking on the percentage of young people with university studies.
Countries with most of the Higher Education Graduates Photo: Shutterstock
In 2014, just over a quarter (26%) of the EU citizens between the ages of 25 and 74 had graduated higher education. After 10 years, this weight increased to 33.5%.
According to statistics, under 30% of Romanians between the ages of 25 and 34, higher education, the lowest percentage of the European Union – 23.2% followed. In contrast, in countries such as Ireland, Luxembourg or Cyprus, over 60% of young adults have a college diploma, according to Eurostat.
The figures reveal the change of attitudes towards education from one generation to another. Among adults between the ages of 25 and 54, 82.7% graduated at least higher secondary studies, compared to 70.4% of those between the ages of 55 and 74.
Women remain in the education system longer with one exception: Romania
In almost the whole of Europe, women surpass men in terms of education level. In 2024, almost half (49.9%) of women between the ages of 25 and 34 had graduated higher education. Men also progressed, but slower, reaching 38.7% in the same age group. This gap has increased by just over 1% in 10 years.
As for higher secondary education, 86.8% of women between the ages of 20 and 24 graduated at least this level, compared to 81.8% of men. Only in Romania, men had slightly superior performance compared to women.
EU population distribution according to the level of education in 2024
The Eurostat report also highlights a significant difference between generations. In the EU, young people from 25-34 years old are almost twice as educated than those of the 55-74 generation. Even if this trend is reflected in Romania, the growth rate has been much slower than in other countries.
The proportion of people with a low level of education varied from 5.5% in Lithuania to 45.5% in Portugal. Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Latvia had the lowest weights of people with a low level of education (all below 10%), while Malta, Italy, Spain and Portugal had the highest (all over 35%).
In contrast, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden and Cyprus reported the largest weights with higher education (over 45%), while Romania and Italy reported the smallest weights (below 25%). Overall, the share of people with a high level of education varied from 17.1% in Romania to 52.8% in Ireland.
For the average level of education, Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg had the lowest weights (below 30%), while Slovakia and the Czech Republic had the highest (over 65%). For this level of education, a distinction is made between general and professional qualifications, professional qualifications being considered to be more relevant to the labor market, because they are more oriented to jobs.
