EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio
Greece had the highest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio of 25 EU countries in 2012, at 110.1%. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 19.1%. The median was 68.2%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2012
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2012 (%) | Change on 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greece | 110.1 | +4.3 pts |
| 2 | Finland | 91.6 | -1.7 pts |
| 3 | Slovenia | 89 | +1.8 pts |
| 4 | Spain | 82.9 | +2.2 pts |
| 5 | Lithuania | 79.8 | -4.3 pts |
| 6 | Austria | 79.5 | +2.3 pts |
| 7 | Denmark | 77.7 | +1.8 pts |
| 8 | Netherlands | 75.8 | +0.3 pts |
| 9 | Poland | 75 | -0.8 pts |
| 10 | Estonia | 72.9 | +1.9 pts |
| 11 | Belgium | 69.7 | +2 pts |
| 12 | Sweden | 68.7 | -3.2 pts |
| 13 | Ireland | 68.2 | +0.4 pts |
| 14 | Czechia | 66.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 15 | Latvia | 66.6 | -1.3 pts |
| 16 | Italy | 62.3 | -1.9 pts |
| 17 | Bulgaria | 62.2 | +2.3 pts |
| 18 | Croatia | 62 | +2.7 pts |
| 19 | Hungary | 60.7 | +0.7 pts |
| 20 | France | 57.9 | +2.3 pts |
| 21 | Slovakia | 57 | -0.1 pts |
| 22 | Romania | 55 | -11.8 pts |
| 23 | Cyprus | 45.9 | -0.7 pts |
| 24 | Malta | 42.5 | +3.1 pts |
| 25 | Luxembourg | 19.1 |
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 EU countries are compared on one definition. 2 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2012 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 EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"tertiary_enrolment_gross","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=tertiary_enrolment_gross&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10Questions
Which EU country has the highest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio?
Greece, with 110.1% in 2012, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio?
Luxembourg, with 19.1% in 2012.
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. 2 EU countries have no value for 2012 and are not ranked.