Tertiary Education Attainment (%)

What Is Tertiary Education Attainment?

Tertiary education attainment measures the percentage of the population aged 25 to 64 that has successfully completed post-secondary education — a degree or diploma from a university, polytechnic, community college, or equivalent institution. It is the standard indicator of a country's human-capital stock and one of the most reliable predictors of long-run economic performance, earnings potential, and social mobility.

The 25-to-64 age range is chosen because it approximates the working-age population that has had enough time to complete higher education (excluding those still in school) but has not yet retired. This window captures the workforce that is actively contributing to the economy and whose skills shape current productivity, innovation capacity, and competitiveness.

Tertiary attainment has risen steadily across virtually all advanced economies over the past four decades. The expansion reflects deliberate policy choices — increased public funding for universities, the creation of mass higher-education systems, financial-aid programmes that broaden access — as well as market forces that reward educated workers with higher wages and more stable employment.

Despite this progress, significant gaps persist along lines of socioeconomic background, gender, ethnicity, and geography, and these gaps carry economic consequences that policymakers increasingly seek to address. The attainment rate captures not only the scale of a country's educational achievement but also, when disaggregated, the equity of access to higher education.

How It Is Calculated

The attainment rate is the share of the reference population holding a tertiary qualification:

$A = \frac{N_{\text{tert}}}{N_{25-64}} \times 100$

where $N_{\text{tert}}$ is the number of people aged 25 to 64 with a completed tertiary qualification and $N_{25-64}$ is the total population in that age group. The result is a percentage.

Classification of Tertiary Education

International comparisons rely on the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), maintained by UNESCO. Under ISCED 2011, tertiary education comprises four levels:

Short-cycle tertiary programmes (ISCED 5) typically last two to three years and lead to vocational diplomas or associate degrees. Bachelor's-level programmes (ISCED 6) are the most common form of university education, generally lasting three to four years. Master's-level programmes (ISCED 7) add one to two years of advanced study. Doctoral-level programmes (ISCED 8) involve original research and culminate in a thesis or dissertation.

When a country reports its tertiary attainment rate, it usually includes all four levels combined, though breakdowns by level are available for more granular analysis. The mix matters: a workforce with a high share of doctoral and master's graduates has different capabilities than one dominated by short-cycle qualifications, even if the headline attainment rate is similar.

Data Sources

Attainment data typically come from labour-force surveys or population censuses. In labour-force surveys, respondents report their highest completed level of education, which is then mapped to the ISCED framework. Sampling variability means that survey-based estimates carry a margin of error, particularly for small subgroups. Census data are more comprehensive but less frequent.

Cross-country comparability has improved as more countries adopt ISCED, but differences in national qualification frameworks — especially in the treatment of vocational and professional credentials — still introduce some noise. A trade qualification that counts as tertiary in one country may be classified as upper secondary in another.

Flow versus Stock

The attainment rate is a stock measure: it reflects the accumulated educational history of the entire working-age population. Because the population turns over slowly — older cohorts with lower attainment rates are gradually replaced by younger cohorts with higher rates — the attainment rate changes only a few tenths of a percentage point per year.

A complementary flow measure is the tertiary graduation rate for a given year, which captures the pace at which new graduates are entering the pipeline. A high flow rate today will translate into a higher stock measure in the decades ahead, but the lag is considerable.

How to Read the Numbers

The table below offers interpretive guidance for tertiary attainment rates (ages 25 to 64) across OECD and comparable economies.

The headline rate conceals important variation by age cohort. In many countries, the attainment rate among 25-to-34-year-olds exceeds that among 55-to-64-year-olds by twenty percentage points or more, reflecting the rapid expansion of higher education in recent decades. This generational gap means the workforce is becoming more educated over time through natural cohort replacement, even in the absence of new policy interventions.

Gender patterns have also shifted. In most OECD countries, women now have higher tertiary attainment rates than men in younger cohorts, reversing a historical pattern. This shift has implications for labour-market outcomes, household formation, and the design of education and social policy.

Quality and relevance matter as much as quantity. A high attainment rate loses some of its economic value if graduates lack the skills that employers need, if credential inflation has diluted the signalling power of degrees, or if a mismatch between fields of study and labour-market demand leaves graduates underemployed. Indicators of graduate employment outcomes and skills proficiency provide essential context.

Economic Significance

Tertiary education is among the strongest predictors of individual economic outcomes. Across OECD countries, workers with tertiary qualifications earn substantially more than those without, experience lower unemployment rates, and are more likely to participate in the labour force. These individual returns aggregate into macroeconomic effects: countries with higher attainment rates tend to have higher labour productivity, faster economic growth, and greater capacity for innovation.

The mechanism linking education to productivity operates through several channels. Formal education builds foundational cognitive skills — literacy, numeracy, analytical reasoning — that enhance worker effectiveness across a wide range of tasks. It also develops specialised knowledge in fields such as engineering, medicine, finance, and information technology that drive the knowledge-intensive sectors of the modern economy. Beyond direct skill formation, higher education fosters the capacity to learn continuously, an increasingly important trait in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

Innovation is strongly associated with the educational profile of the workforce. Research and development activity, patent generation, and the adoption of new technologies all correlate positively with the share of the population holding advanced degrees. Countries seeking to move up the value chain — from resource extraction or manufacturing toward high-technology industries and services — must build the human-capital base to support that transition. Tertiary attainment is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for doing so.

From a fiscal perspective, higher educational attainment tends to improve the government's revenue position. Better-educated workers earn more and therefore pay more income tax; they are less likely to draw on unemployment insurance, social assistance, or disability benefits; and they generate more economic activity that supports consumption-tax revenue. The long-run fiscal return on public investment in higher education is generally positive, though it depends critically on the quality of the education provided and the efficiency of the spending.

Labour-market flexibility is enhanced by a well-educated workforce. Workers with broad skills and strong learning capacity adapt more readily to structural changes — technological disruption, trade shifts, sectoral rebalancing — reducing the duration and cost of economic adjustments. Central banks benefit from this flexibility because it reduces the risk that supply-side shocks will generate persistent unemployment or inflationary bottlenecks.

Social returns extend beyond the purely economic. Higher educational attainment is associated with better health outcomes, higher civic participation, lower crime rates, and greater social trust. These externalities strengthen the case for public investment in education, since the benefits accrue not only to the individuals who acquire the credentials but to society as a whole.

The relationship between attainment and inequality is complex. Expanding access to higher education can reduce inequality by opening pathways to higher earnings for previously excluded groups. But if access remains stratified by socioeconomic background — if wealthy families can afford better preparation, more prestigious institutions, and more time in school — then rising attainment can coexist with persistent or even widening inequality.

Related Indicators

• Education Spending as % of GDP — the financial input that supports educational attainment
• Labour Productivity Growth — output per hour worked, strongly influenced by workforce education levels
• Youth Unemployment — joblessness among young people, which higher attainment tends to reduce
• Average Hourly Earnings — the wage premium associated with higher education