Countries by tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64

Canada had the highest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 of 37 countries in 2021, at 61.9%. Italy had the lowest, at 20%. The median was 41.2%. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Highest61.9Canada

Lowest20Italy

Median41.237 countries

Map of countries, 2021

Under 28
28 to 35
35 to 41
41 to 45
45 to 50
50 and over
No data

%, 2021. 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, 2021

%. 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	2021 (%)	Change on 2020
1	Canada	61.9	+2.1 pts
2	Japan	55.6	+1.5 pts
3	Ireland	53.7	+3.8 pts
4	South Korea	51.7	+1 pts
5	United Kingdom	50.5	+0.7 pts
6	United States	50.3	+0.3 pts
7	Luxembourg	50.3	-1 pts
8	Australia	49.9	+0.4 pts
9	Israel	49.7	-0.4 pts
10	Norway	47.3	+2.1 pts
11	Sweden	46.6	+2 pts
12	Lithuania	45.3	+1.2 pts
13	Switzerland	45	-0.3 pts
14	Belgium	44.9	+2.4 pts
15	Iceland	43.1	+2.4 pts
16	Netherlands	43.1	+1 pts
17	Finland	42.3	-5.5 pts
18	Denmark	41.9	+2.6 pts
19	Estonia	41.2	-1 pts
20	France	40.7	+1 pts
21	New Zealand	40.5	+0.4 pts
22	Spain	40.4	+0.7 pts
23	Slovenia	40.3	+4.4 pts
24	Latvia	39	+1.2 pts
25	Austria	34.6	+0.4 pts
26	Greece	34.6	+1.8 pts
27	Poland	33.7	+0.8 pts
28	Germany	32.3	+1.1 pts
29	Hungary	29.3	+2.1 pts
30	Portugal	28.8	+1.3 pts
31	Slovakia	27.9	+1.1 pts
32	Colombia	26.6	+1.9 pts
33	Czechia	26.5	+1.7 pts
34	Costa Rica	24.6	-0.5 pts
35	Türkiye	24.5	n/a
36	Mexico	20.5	+1 pts
37	Italy	20	-0 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 2021 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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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=2021. 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, 2021. 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=2021.

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, 2021 [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=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{organisation_countries_by_tertiary_education_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  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=2021. 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, 2021
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=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/countries?period=2021.
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 61.9% in 2021, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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

Italy, with 20% in 2021.

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 2021 and are not ranked.