Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64

Canada had the highest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 of 37 countries in 2016, at 56%. Mexico had the lowest, at 16.8%. The median was 37.1%. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Highest56Canada

Lowest16.8Mexico

Median37.137 countries

Map of countries, 2016

Under 23
23 to 31
31 to 37
37 to 41
41 to 45
45 and over
No data

%, 2016. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: 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). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All countries, 2016

%. Source: 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). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2016 (%)	Change on 2015
1	Canada	56	+1 pts
2	Japan	50.5	+1 pts
3	Israel	49.9	+1.1 pts
4	South Korea	46.6	+1.3 pts
5	United Kingdom	45.8	+1.6 pts
6	United States	45.7	+1 pts
7	Ireland	45.1	+2.3 pts
8	Australia	43.7	+0.9 pts
9	Finland Series break	43.6	+0.9 pts
10	Norway	43	+0.3 pts
11	Luxembourg	42.9	+3.1 pts
12	Switzerland	41.2	+1.5 pts
13	Sweden	41.1	+1.4 pts
14	Lithuania	39.7	+1 pts
15	Estonia	38.8	+0.7 pts
16	Iceland	38.1	+1.1 pts
17	Denmark	37.8	+1.2 pts
18	Belgium	37.5	+0.6 pts
19	Netherlands	37.1	+0.7 pts
20	New Zealand	36.3	+1.9 pts
21	Spain	35.7	+0.6 pts
22	France	34.6	+0.5 pts
23	Latvia	33.4	+1.8 pts
24	Austria	31.4	+0.8 pts
25	Slovenia	30.7	+0.6 pts
26	Greece	30.2	+1.2 pts
27	Poland	28.7	+1 pts
28	Germany	28.3	+0.7 pts
29	Portugal	23.8	+0.9 pts
30	Hungary	23.7	-0.5 pts
31	Costa Rica	23	-0.1 pts
32	Czechia	23	+0.8 pts
33	Colombia	22.2	+0.8 pts
34	Slovakia	22	+0.8 pts
35	Türkiye	19.4	+1.3 pts
36	Italy	17.7	+0.2 pts
37	Mexico	16.8	+0.5 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 2016 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

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

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, 2016) [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, 2016. 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=2016. 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, 2016. 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=2016.

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, 2016 [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=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{organisation_countries_by_tertiary_education_2016,
  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, 2016}},
  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=2016. 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, 2016
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=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2016.
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  -

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Rank Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which country has the highest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64?

Canada, with 56% in 2016, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Which country has the lowest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64?

Mexico, with 16.8% in 2016.

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 2016 and are not ranked.