Population with tertiary education — all countries

Population with tertiary education — OECD

Population with tertiary education in the OECD in 2023 — 30.9%. Since 2014, the indicator has risen by 6.74 pp.

2023 30.9% +2.34 pp vs 2022
World rank
Period maximum 30.9%2023
Period minimum 24.16%2014

Trend over time

2014–2023 · % of population aged 25+

Population with tertiary education — OECD, 2014–2023242628303220142015201620172018201920202021202220232014: 24.16%2015: 24.34%2016: 24.95%2017: 26.21%2018: 26.39%2019: 28.66%2020: 28.5%2021: 30.05%2022: 28.56%2023: 30.9%
Change over the period: +6.74 pp Annual average: 0.75 pp
Population with tertiary education — OECD, by year OECD All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2023 30.9 +2.34 pp
2022 28.56 −1.49 pp
2021 30.05 +1.55 pp
2020 28.5 −0.16 pp
2019 28.66 +2.28 pp
2018 26.39 +0.18 pp
2017 26.21 +1.26 pp
2016 24.95 +0.61 pp
2015 24.34 +0.17 pp
2014 24.16

About the indicator

The share of the population aged 25 and older that has completed education at the bachelor's level or above. It differs fundamentally from tertiary enrollment: enrollment counts current students, while this indicator is the accumulated result of past decades, so it changes slowly and reflects not the policy of today but the state of the system twenty or thirty years ago.

Important: An accumulated stock, not the current flow: a country whose tertiary enrollment has grown quickly will keep catching up on this indicator for another generation.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), license CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.