EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio
Finland had the highest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio of 26 EU countries in 2015, at 89.7%. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 20.3%. The median was 68.9%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2015
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2015 (%) | Change on 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finland | 89.7 | -0.3 pts |
| 2 | Spain | 88.5 | +0.6 pts |
| 3 | Denmark | 83.3 | +2 pts |
| 4 | Austria | 82.3 | +1.2 pts |
| 5 | Slovenia | 82.2 | -2.2 pts |
| 6 | Netherlands | 80.2 | |
| 7 | Bulgaria | 78.3 | +5.3 pts |
| 8 | Ireland | 77.2 | +3.4 pts |
| 9 | Belgium | 76.4 | +2.4 pts |
| 10 | Estonia | 74.6 | -1.6 pts |
| 11 | Latvia | 74.3 | +3.4 pts |
| 12 | Lithuania | 72.1 | +0.1 pts |
| 13 | Poland | 69.4 | -0.9 pts |
| 14 | Croatia | 68.4 | -0.2 pts |
| 15 | Germany | 68.2 | +3 pts |
| 16 | Czechia | 67.2 | -0.2 pts |
| 17 | Sweden | 66.4 | +1.5 pts |
| 18 | France | 62.8 | +1.3 pts |
| 19 | Portugal | 61.8 | |
| 20 | Italy | 60.9 | +0.1 pts |
| 21 | Cyprus | 59.9 | +7.8 pts |
| 22 | Slovakia | 52.7 | -1.2 pts |
| 23 | Hungary | 51 | -2.4 pts |
| 24 | Romania | 49.4 | -1.7 pts |
| 25 | Malta | 48 | +2.6 pts |
| 26 | Luxembourg | 20.3 |
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. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2015 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.Citation styles
APA 7
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2026). School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR) (EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio, 2015) [Data set]. World Bank, World Development Indicators. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR
MLA 9
School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR), EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio, 2015. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR. World Bank, World Development Indicators, https://data.worldbank.org. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-enrolment-ratio/eu-countries?period=2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2026. School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR). EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio, 2015. Dataset. Distributed by World Bank, World Development Indicators. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-enrolment-ratio/eu-countries?period=2015.
Harvard
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR), EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio, 2015 [Dataset]. Via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-enrolment-ratio/eu-countries?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{unesco_eu_countries_by_tertiary_2015,
author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
title = {{School enrollment, tertiary, \% gross (SE.TER.ENRR): EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio, 2015}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
publisher = {World Bank, World Development Indicators},
url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org). Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-enrolment-ratio/eu-countries?period=2015. Publisher attribution: 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.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - UNESCO Institute for Statistics
TI - School enrollment, tertiary, % gross (SE.TER.ENRR): EU countries by tertiary education gross enrolment ratio, 2015
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
PB - World Bank, World Development Indicators
DB - Invokely
UR - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-enrolment-ratio/eu-countries?period=2015
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org).
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tertiary-enrolment-ratio/eu-countries?period=2015.
N1 - Publisher attribution: 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.
ER -
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?
Finland, with 89.7% in 2015, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest tertiary education gross enrolment ratio?
Luxembourg, with 20.3% in 2015.
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. 1 EU countries have no value for 2015 and are not ranked.