TOP 10 Countries by Tertiary Attainment (Age 25–34, 2025)

The leaders are economies where tertiary education has become a mainstream route into early working life. Korea and Canada are clear outliers: in both countries, roughly seven in ten young adults have completed a tertiary qualification. Ireland and Luxembourg also sit far above the OECD average, supported by labour markets that reward formal post-secondary credentials.

The Top 10 is not a simple proxy for the “best universities.” Tertiary attainment is shaped by access, completion, short-cycle tertiary pathways, migration of skilled workers, student finance, employer demand and cultural expectations around education. A higher rate means wider completion, not automatically stronger skills or better graduate outcomes.

Indicator definition

The indicator counts people aged 25–34 whose highest completed level of education is tertiary. In OECD education statistics, tertiary education corresponds to ISCED levels 5–8: short-cycle tertiary, bachelor’s or equivalent, master’s or equivalent, and doctoral or equivalent education.

Ranking rule

Countries are ordered by the total tertiary attainment rate for 25–34-year-olds, from highest to lowest. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. The OECD average is used as a benchmark and is not ranked as a country.

Data period

The data are taken from the OECD Education GPS and Education at a Glance 2025 release. The values reflect the latest comparable OECD reference year available for this indicator, mainly 2024, and are presented as a 2025 snapshot.

Limits of comparison

Tertiary attainment measures completed credentials, not learning quality, field of study, employment status, wages or skill use at work. Countries with strong vocational routes may have lower tertiary attainment without having weaker human capital.

The top tier is credential-intensive

In the leading economies, tertiary education is already the majority pathway for young adults. This changes the labour-market baseline: a tertiary credential becomes less of a rare advantage and more of a standard entry signal for professional work.

Europe is prominent but not uniform

Ireland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Norway, Lithuania, Sweden and the Netherlands all rank highly, yet their systems differ. Small international economies, Nordic welfare states and Central European catch-up cases reach high attainment through different routes.

More degrees do not automatically mean better skills

A high attainment rate can coexist with skill mismatch or uneven returns by field of study. The indicator is strongest when read with employment, wages, adult-skills and field-of-study data.

The gender gap matters

OECD data show that young women have higher tertiary attainment than young men on average. This pattern is now central to workforce planning, graduate labour markets and long-term income mobility.

For students and families

In high-attainment countries, tertiary education is a common step into the labour market. That can raise expectations for credentials, but it also increases the importance of choosing a field of study with strong completion, employment and earnings outcomes.

For employers

A high national attainment rate suggests a larger pool of formally qualified young workers. Employers still need to evaluate practical skills, experience and field relevance rather than relying on education level alone.

For policymakers

Expansion is valuable only when access, quality and labour-market alignment move together. A country can increase attainment while still facing affordability problems, skills gaps or weak transitions from study to work.

For economic analysis

Tertiary attainment is a useful human-capital signal. It should be paired with productivity, employment, wage premiums, migration and adult-skills indicators to understand whether credentials translate into real economic capacity.