Cyprus ranked third in the European Union for tertiary education attainment in 2024, with 60.1% of its population aged 25-34 holding a higher education qualification. This places Cyprus just behind Ireland (65.2%) and Luxembourg (63.8%), according to the latest data from Eurostat.
Tertiary education attainment, which tracks the proportion of young adults who have completed higher education, is a key indicator for assessing progress toward the United Nations’ sustainable development goal of "quality education" (SDG 4). This goal aims to ensure access to quality education for all and enhance the skills of young people and adults for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.
Across the European Union, the overall tertiary education attainment rate for young adults reached 44.1% in 2024, a marked increase from 39.6% in 2019. This shows that the EU is on track to meet its 2030 target of raising the rate to at least 45%, as outlined in the European Education Area strategic framework.
At the other end of the scale, Romania (23.2%), Italy (31.6%), and Hungary (32.3%) recorded the lowest attainment rates in the EU.
Gender disparities in educational attainment remain stark across the EU, with women outperforming men significantly. In 2024, 49.8% of young women completed tertiary education, compared to just 38.6% of men. The gender gap was widest in Slovenia, where 55.7% of women versus 32.0% of men had attained higher education, as well as in Latvia (56.8% vs. 33.9%), Estonia (53.9% vs. 32.3%), and Croatia (50.1% vs. 29.6%)