Countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio
Greece had the highest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio of 134 countries in 2018, at 141%. Malawi had the lowest, at 1.7%. The median was 50% and the figure for the World was 37.9%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Top 40 countries, 2018
Full ranking
| Rank | Countries | 2018 (%) | Change on 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greece | 141 | +5.6 pts |
| 2 | Türkiye | 115.5 | +4.9 pts |
| 3 | Puerto Rico | 107.5 | +6.8 pts |
| 4 | Australia | 103.3 | -6.7 pts |
| 5 | Grenada | 100 | +1.3 pts |
| 6 | South Korea | 93.3 | -0.4 pts |
| 7 | Latvia | 93 | +5 pts |
| 8 | Spain | 92.5 | +0.4 pts |
| 9 | Finland | 92.4 | +1.7 pts |
| 10 | Chile | 91.2 | +1.3 pts |
| 11 | Argentina | 91.1 | +1.8 pts |
| 12 | Singapore | 88.9 | +4.1 pts |
| 13 | United States | 88.3 | +0.1 pts |
| 14 | Cyprus | 86.6 | +6.8 pts |
| 15 | Austria | 85.9 | +2 pts |
| 16 | Norway | 85.4 | +1.7 pts |
| 17 | Belarus | 84.7 | -4.8 pts |
| 18 | Netherlands | 83.7 | +0.5 pts |
| 19 | Bulgaria | 83.1 | +1.9 pts |
| 20 | Russia | 81.6 | -0.1 pts |
| 21 | Ukraine | 81.5 | +1.3 pts |
| 22 | New Zealand | 81.3 | -0 pts |
| 23 | Denmark | 81.1 | -0.2 pts |
| 24 | Fiji | 79.1 | -3.2 pts |
| 25 | Belgium | 79.1 | -1.7 pts |
| 26 | Hong Kong | 78.2 | +5.3 pts |
| 27 | Lithuania | 77.4 | +0.8 pts |
| 28 | Slovenia | 77.3 | -2 pts |
| 29 | Macao | 76.8 | -4.5 pts |
| 30 | Ireland | 76.8 | -0.8 pts |
| 31 | Sweden | 73.4 | +3 pts |
| 32 | Saudi Arabia | 73.2 | +2.5 pts |
| 33 | Croatia | 72.9 | +1.5 pts |
| 34 | Estonia | 72.1 | -0.1 pts |
| 35 | Poland | 71 | +0.4 pts |
| 36 | Canada | 69.4 | -0.9 pts |
| 37 | Iceland | 69.3 | -2 pts |
| 38 | Germany | 69.2 | +0.7 pts |
| 39 | France | 67.5 | +1.7 pts |
| 40 | Serbia | 67.2 | +0.7 pts |
| 41 | Czechia | 66.8 | -0.9 pts |
| 42 | Georgia | 66.7 | +3.2 pts |
| 43 | Portugal | 65.1 | +0.9 pts |
| 44 | Mongolia | 65.1 | +0.7 pts |
| 45 | Italy | 64.5 | +1.8 pts |
| 46 | Switzerland | 64.4 | +1.9 pts |
| 47 | Japan | 62.6 | -0.7 pts |
| 48 | United Kingdom | 61.1 | +1.5 pts |
| 49 | Iran | 60.9 | -5.5 pts |
| 50 | Uruguay | 60.3 | +0.5 pts |
| 51 | Israel | 58.6 | -1.7 pts |
| 52 | Montenegro | 58.2 | -2.7 pts |
| 53 | Malta | 57.8 | +3.8 pts |
| 54 | Armenia | 57.5 | +2 pts |
| 55 | Colombia | 57.3 | -1.1 pts |
| 56 | Albania | 56.1 | -1.9 pts |
| 57 | China | 53.4 | +2.3 pts |
| 58 | United Arab Emirates | 53.2 | |
| 59 | Algeria | 52.9 | +3.7 pts |
| 60 | Moldova | 52.8 | +0.9 pts |
| 61 | Costa Rica | 52.6 | -1.8 pts |
| 62 | Hungary | 52.6 | +1.2 pts |
| 63 | Kuwait | 52.1 | -2.8 pts |
| 64 | Brazil | 52.1 | +1.3 pts |
| 65 | Romania | 52 | +1.5 pts |
| 66 | Kazakhstan | 52 | +2 pts |
| 67 | Bahrain | 50.3 | +1.5 pts |
| 68 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 49.8 | -4.7 pts |
| 69 | Slovakia | 47.8 | -1.3 pts |
| 70 | Ecuador | 47.3 | |
| 71 | Lebanon | 47.2 | +3 pts |
| 72 | Palestine | 46.5 | +1 pts |
| 73 | Thailand | 46.2 | -1.3 pts |
| 74 | Barbados | 45.9 | -5.1 pts |
| 75 | San Marino | 45.4 | |
| 76 | Oman | 45 | +1.4 pts |
| 77 | North Macedonia | 43.9 | +0.3 pts |
| 78 | Malaysia | 43.3 | +1 pts |
| 79 | Cuba | 42.4 | +1.2 pts |
| 80 | Mexico | 41.6 | +1.3 pts |
| 81 | Mauritius | 40.4 | +0.7 pts |
| 82 | Kyrgyzstan | 39.6 | -2 pts |
| 83 | Seychelles | 38.9 | -3.4 pts |
| 84 | Liechtenstein | 38.3 | +2.7 pts |
| 85 | Indonesia | 36.1 | +0.2 pts |
| 86 | Egypt | 36.1 | +3 pts |
| 87 | Morocco | 35.3 | +1.8 pts |
| 88 | Jordan | 31.6 | +2.9 pts |
| 89 | Tunisia | 31 | 0 pts |
| 90 | Azerbaijan | 29 | +0.5 pts |
| 91 | India | 28.5 | +0.6 pts |
| 92 | El Salvador | 28.2 | +0.6 pts |
| 93 | Philippines | 28.1 | -5.6 pts |
| 94 | Brunei | 27.9 | -3.3 pts |
| 95 | North Korea | 26.7 | |
| 96 | Honduras | 26.4 | +1.8 pts |
| 97 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 26 | +0.3 pts |
| 98 | Belize | 24.6 | -0.1 pts |
| 99 | Cape Verde | 24.3 | -0.3 pts |
| 100 | Namibia | 23.7 | +1.2 pts |
| 101 | South Africa | 22.4 | +1.3 pts |
| 102 | Bermuda | 22.3 | +0.5 pts |
| 103 | Myanmar | 20.4 | |
| 104 | Bangladesh | 19.6 | +1.1 pts |
| 105 | Luxembourg | 19.4 | -0.2 pts |
| 106 | Sri Lanka | 17.9 | +0.7 pts |
| 107 | British Virgin Islands | 17.8 | |
| 108 | Qatar | 17.4 | +0.7 pts |
| 109 | Ghana | 15.9 | -0.3 pts |
| 110 | Andorra | 15.7 | 0 pts |
| 111 | Bhutan | 14.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 112 | Saint Lucia | 14.7 | -6.1 pts |
| 113 | Cameroon | 14.5 | +1.6 pts |
| 114 | Laos | 14.5 | -0.9 pts |
| 115 | Samoa | 14.2 | +0.9 pts |
| 116 | Cambodia | 13.3 | +0.7 pts |
| 117 | Togo | 12.9 | +0.6 pts |
| 118 | Nepal | 12.6 | +1.2 pts |
| 119 | Senegal | 12.4 | +1.1 pts |
| 120 | Benin | 11.6 | +0.2 pts |
| 121 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 11.3 | -0.5 pts |
| 122 | Afghanistan | 10 | |
| 123 | Uzbekistan | 10 | +1.3 pts |
| 124 | Lesotho | 9.9 | -0.4 pts |
| 125 | Pakistan | 8.2 | -0.4 pts |
| 126 | Mozambique | 7.5 | +0.2 pts |
| 127 | Rwanda | 6.8 | -0.6 pts |
| 128 | Burkina Faso | 6.3 | +0.5 pts |
| 129 | Mauritania | 5.1 | -0 pts |
| 130 | Madagascar | 5.1 | 0 pts |
| 131 | Burundi | 4.6 | +0.2 pts |
| 132 | Niger | 4.3 | +0.7 pts |
| 133 | Tanzania | 4.3 | -0.5 pts |
| 134 | Malawi | 1.7 |
Other periods
About this ranking
Students enrolled in tertiary education (ISCED levels 5 to 8), of any age, as a percentage of the population in the five-year age group that follows the official secondary school leaving age. UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
A gross ratio: students outside the reference ages and students from abroad are counted, so it can exceed 100%. It counts students, not graduates; for degree holders in the United States see bachelors_degree_share.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 69 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2018 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR). Retrieved through World Bank World Development Indicators (data.worldbank.org). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. UIS does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank Countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"tertiary_enrolment_gross","level":"country","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=tertiary_enrolment_gross&level=country&limit=10Questions
Which country has the highest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio?
Greece, with 141% in 2018, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which country has the lowest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio?
Malawi, with 1.7% in 2018.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 69 countries have no value for 2018 and are not ranked.