46.4% of Maltese aged 25-34 have attained tertiary education

46.4 per cent of Maltese 25-34-year-olds had tertiary education in 2023, Eurostat data released on Monday (today) revealed.

This is the above the EU average of 43 per cent, which in turn increased from 2022’s 42 per cent.

In 2021, the EU had announced a new strategic framework for education and training to be implemented by 2030 in a bid to reinforce cooperation in this area. One of the key priorities set was to increase the share of 25-34-year-olds to have tertiary education to at least 45 per cent.

As a result, Malta forms part of a list of 13 EU countries which have reached the EU’s target, surpassing the goal by 1.4 percentage points.

Out of the 13 countries, Ireland had the largest share, with 62.7 per cent of its population aged 25-34 having tertiary education. This was followed by Cyprus (61.6 per cent), and Luxembourg (60.2 per cent).

In contrast, the lowest shares out were recorded in Romania (23 per cent), Hungary (29 per cent) and Italy (31 per cent).

It was noted that in the EU, there is a gender gap when it comes to tertiary education attainment among people within the age range, with a higher percentage of women (49 per cent) having tertiary education compared with men (38 per cent).

In all EU countries, the shares of tertiary education attainment were higher for women than men, with this ranging from a five percentage point difference in Germany to a 24 percentage point difference in Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia.

Last week, Government announced a new national education strategy for 2024-2030, based on the pillars of well-being, growth and emancipation, and equality and inclusion. Minister for Education Clifton Grima had stated that the strategy contains 36 measures and more than 153 initiatives.