Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64
Canada had the highest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 of 37 countries in 2014, at 53.4%. Mexico had the lowest, at 16%. The median was 35.6%. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Map of countries, 2014
- Under 22
- 22 to 29
- 29 to 36
- 36 to 38
- 38 to 42
- 42 and over
- No data
All countries, 2014
Full ranking
| Rank | Countries | 2014 (%) | Change on 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | 53.4 | +0.6 pts |
| 2 | Israel | 48.5 | +1.1 pts |
| 3 | Japan | 48.2 | +0.9 pts |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 45.9 | +5.3 pts |
| 5 | South Korea | 44.5 | +1.4 pts |
| 6 | United States | 44.2 | +0.3 pts |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 42.2 | +0.3 pts |
| 8 | Australia | 41.9 | +2.4 pts |
| 9 | Finland | 41.8 | +1.2 pts |
| 10 | Norway | 41.8 | +2 pts |
| 11 | Ireland | 41 | -0.5 pts |
| 12 | Sweden | 38.7 | +1.7 pts |
| 13 | Switzerland | 38.4 | +1 pts |
| 14 | Estonia | 37.5 | +0.2 pts |
| 15 | Belgium | 36.9 | +1.3 pts |
| 16 | Lithuania | 36.7 | +1.5 pts |
| 17 | Denmark | 35.8 | +0.6 pts |
| 18 | New Zealand | 35.6 | |
| 19 | Iceland | 35.6 | +1.3 pts |
| 20 | Netherlands | 35.3 | +0.8 pts |
| 21 | Spain | 34.7 | +0.9 pts |
| 22 | France | 33.5 | +1.4 pts |
| 23 | Latvia | 30.2 | -0.8 pts |
| 24 | Austria | 29.9 | +0.2 pts |
| 25 | Slovenia | 28.6 | +0.7 pts |
| 26 | Greece | 28.1 | +0.7 pts |
| 27 | Germany | 27.1 | -1.4 pts |
| 28 | Poland | 27 | +1.2 pts |
| 29 | Costa Rica | 23.5 | +0.3 pts |
| 30 | Hungary | 23.4 | +0.9 pts |
| 31 | Portugal | 21.7 | +2.4 pts |
| 32 | Czechia | 21.5 | +1.1 pts |
| 33 | Colombia | 21.3 | +1.1 pts |
| 34 | Slovakia | 20.4 | +0.5 pts |
| 35 | Italy | 16.9 | +0.6 pts |
| 36 | Türkiye | 16.7 | +0.8 pts |
| 37 | Mexico | 16 | -0.2 pts |
Other periods
About this ranking
People aged 25 to 64 whose highest completed level of education is tertiary (ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8: short-cycle tertiary, bachelor's or equivalent, master's or equivalent, and doctoral), as a percentage of all people aged 25 to 64. Measured by national labour force surveys.
Includes short-cycle tertiary programmes such as US associate degrees, so it is higher than the US bachelors_degree_share, which also covers everyone aged 25 and over.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 6 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2014 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html
Citation styles
APA 7
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2026). OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA) (Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP
MLA 9
OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA), Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, 2014. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 12 Oct. 2026, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2026. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2014.
Harvard
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2026) OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA), Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{organisation_countries_by_tertiary_education_2014,
author = {{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development}},
title = {{OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD\_EAG\_LSO\_EA@DF\_LSO\_NEAC\_DISTR\_EA): Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, 2014}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2014. Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD\_EAG\_LSO\_EA@DF\_LSO\_NEAC\_DISTR\_EA). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ\&df[id]=DSD\_EAG\_LSO\_EA\%40DF\_LSO\_NEAC\_DISTR\_EA\&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
TI - OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA): Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, 2014
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
DB - Invokely
UR - https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2014
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2014.
N1 - Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.
ER -
Use this data in your AI agent
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Rank Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"tertiary_attainment_share_25_64","level":"country","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=tertiary_attainment_share_25_64&level=country&limit=10
Questions
Which country has the highest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64?
Canada, with 53.4% in 2014, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Which country has the lowest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64?
Mexico, with 16% in 2014.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 6 countries have no value for 2014 and are not ranked.
Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64: other rankings
- EU countries
- Regions of Belgium (NUTS 2)
- Regions of Hungary (NUTS 2)
- Regions of Portugal (NUTS 2)
- Regions of Finland (NUTS 2)
- Regions of Romania (NUTS 2)