Number of young people with college degrees has been flat for a decade

The latest Eurostat data shows that nearly 41 percent of young Poles aged 25-34 have a university degree. Ten years ago this indicator was at a similar level, although it dropped by almost 2 percentage points compared to the previous year. Poland's result is close to the EU average, but far from the leaders of the ranking. In Luxembourg almost 63 percent of young adults have a university diploma, in Ireland almost 62 percent.

"In 2003, every fifth young person in Poland had a university degree. Since then, this number has steadily increased, and in 2012 it exceeded 40 percent. Then it did not change much over the following years. We reached the peak in 2017, when almost 44 percent of young people had a university diploma, but already this year we returned to the indicator at the level of about 40 percent. According to the assumptions of the European Union, by 2030 this indicator in the countries of the European Union should amount to about 45 percent, so we are close to the ideal forecast," Krzysztof Inglot, market expert, labor founder of Personnel Service, said.

In 2021, 41 percent of the young population aged 25-34 in the European Union had a university degree. There is a clear difference between the sexes. Women far more often than men receive a university degree – 47 percent of women vs. 36 percent of men. 

(WBJ)