Ireland has emerged as the leading country in a comparison of educational attainment, with 57% of adults aged 25 to 64 holding a bachelor’s degree or a higher qualification. The figures, based mainly on 2025 data from the OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026, highlight significant differences in higher education levels across 43 countries.

Lithuania takes second place, with 50% of adults holding at least a bachelor’s degree, followed by Luxembourg at 48%. Belgium, Switzerland and the United Kingdom share the next position, each recording 46%. The strong performance of European nations is particularly noticeable, with several countries occupying the top positions.

Australia, the Netherlands and South Korea each report a rate of 43%, while Sweden and the United States stand at 41%. Denmark, Israel and New Zealand follow at 40%. Canada, Norway and Poland record 39%, showing that a substantial proportion of adults in these countries have completed university-level education.

Further down the ranking, Estonia and Iceland register 38%, while Japan stands at 37%. Bulgaria and Finland each record 36%, followed by Germany and Greece at 35%. Portugal reports 33%, while France, Hungary, Slovakia and Spain each have a rate of 30%.

At the lower end of the list, Czechia and Slovenia stand at 29%, Croatia at 28% and Chile at 26%. Austria, Italy and Mexico each record 22%, while Costa Rica stands at 21% and Türkiye at 20%. Romania has a rate of 19%.

The lowest figures appear in Indonesia, China and South Africa, at 10%, 9% and 8% respectively. However, the reference years are not identical for every country: Chile’s figure is from 2024, Iceland and Indonesia use 2023 data, and China’s figure is from 2020.

The comparison measures adults whose highest educational qualifications include a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate. It excludes short-cycle tertiary qualifications, making it different from rankings that count all forms of higher education. This distinction is important when comparing countries with different education systems.

The figures underline how widely university-level educational attainment varies around the world. Ireland’s leading position reflects the high share of adults with advanced academic qualifications, while the differences between countries also raise broader questions about access to higher education, skills development and the changing demands of modern economies.