In 2024, Cyprus ranked third in the EU regarding tertiary education completion rates, with 60.1%, behind Ireland (65.2%) and Luxembourg (63.8%), according to Eurostat data.
The tertiary education completion rate, which measures the percentage of the population aged 25 to 34 years who have completed a higher education qualification, is one of Eurostat’s indicators used to measure progress towards the fourth Sustainable Development Goal for “quality education”.
This goal aims to ensure access to quality education for all throughout their lives and to increase the number of young people and adults who possess the necessary skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
EU exceeds expectations towards 2030 targets
In 2024, the tertiary education completion rate in the EU reached 44.1%, marking a significant increase compared to 39.6% recorded in 2019. According to Eurostat, this means the EU is on track to achieve the strategic goal of the European Education Area 2030, which provides for an increase in the rate to at least 45%.
Romania (23.2%), Italy (31.6%) and Hungary (32.3%) recorded the lowest rates.
Significant gender gap across member states
The gap between women and men in the EU was significant, with women recording 49.8% and men 38.6%. Young women exceeded men in tertiary education completion across the entire EU.
The largest gap, over 20 percentage points, was observed in Slovenia (55.7% for women versus 32% for men), Latvia (56.8% versus 33.9%), Estonia (53.9% versus 32.3%) and Croatia (50.1% versus 29.6%).