UIS · Bachelor's or Higher Attainment
Adults with a bachelor's degree by country
What share of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher?
United Arab Emirates placed first of the 90 countries compared in 2023, at 52.7169%, and Zimbabwe last, at 1.1349%. In the middle country the figure was 19.8568%. Among the 25 countries measured in every edition since 2013, the middle one moved from 22.0399% to 29.8881%.
Share
Part ofEducation & Knowledge
Adults with a bachelor's degree · 2023
Context statistic
Highest of 90United Arab Emirates
52.7169%012023 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 90 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
3Photo: Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Egypt18.0523% - Americas
United States38.6011% - AsiaUnited Arab Emirates52.7169%
- Europe
Ireland41.8524% - Oceania
Australia35.7648% - Every region
02Every measured country
Adults with a bachelor's degree on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 1.1349–7.0172%
- 7.2705–16.3421%
- 16.4727–23.5028%
- 23.9283–32.9437%
- 33.2019–52.7169%
- No reading in 2023 (98 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
26.3689%
the middle country, of 31 measured · 49 members
Ireland41.8524%
Bosnia and Herzegovina11.2760%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Asia
22.5456%
the middle country, of 24 measured · 52 members
United Arab Emirates52.7169%
Sri Lanka5.3601%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
16.4727%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 48 members
United States38.6011%
Guatemala4.1623%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Africa
6.6422%
the middle country, of 17 measured · 55 members
Egypt18.0523%
Zimbabwe1.1349%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
3.3352%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 21 members
Australia35.7648%
Kiribati1.7556%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Western Europe
36.9842%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 9 members
Luxembourg41.8520%
France24.3546%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Europe
33.6216%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 13 members
Ireland41.8524%
Finland29.8881%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Asia
30.8887%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 19 members
United Arab Emirates52.7169%
Azerbaijan17.6734%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Eastern Europe
23.6234%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 10 members
Bulgaria26.3689%
Romania14.6011%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
22.0017%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 17 members
Greece28.0327%Bosnia and Herzegovina11.2760%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
9.3268%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 11 members
Brunei18.5112%
Cambodia5.8172%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Eastern Africa
5.1492%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 19 members
Mauritius11.6674%Zimbabwe1.1349%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Africa
3.8024%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 16 members
Ghana4.5297%
Burkina Faso2.2909%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
1 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia.
Australia35.7648%Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Caribbean
4 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Grenada, Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico30.8338%
Grenada7.9233%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
4 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama.
Panama16.1277%Guatemala4.1623%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Central Asia
2 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.
Kyrgyzstan23.9283%
Tajikistan16.3421%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
2 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Mongolia, South Korea.
South Korea35.6374%
Mongolia31.1601%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Vanuatu.
Vanuatu3.3352%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Nauru.
Nauru2.1164%Kiribati1.7556%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Middle Africa
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Angola, DR Congo.
DR Congo9.1511%
Angola6.6422%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
2 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt, Tunisia.
Egypt18.0523%
Tunisia12.8028%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States38.6011%
Canada32.8882%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Tonga.
Tonga11.4201%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
- South America
3 of 12 measured — too few for a middle: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia.
Chile21.5450%
Colombia16.4727%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Southern Africa
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa.
Namibia8.5801%
South Africa7.0172%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Asia
4 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Sri Lanka.
Iran17.9232%Sri Lanka5.3601%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
90 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 19.8568%; a quarter are above 30.8750%, and a quarter below 8.7228%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 188 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. It describes adults who left education years or decades ago, so it follows a country's past more than its present schools. Some readings cover ages 25 to 74 rather than all adults, and some come from surveys in which many people's education went unrecorded; the source column beside each row says so.
Showing 25 of 188 countries
Values for 2023. The change column compares 2023 with 2022 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052013–2023 · 11 editions
Over time
Each point is one year of UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, from labour force surveys and censuses. Few countries report every year, so lines often have gaps — and a change of survey can move a line more than any real change in a year.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 25 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 90 | 19.8568% | 8.7228% – 30.8750% | 29.8881% |
| 2022 | 105 | 18.0757% | 8.0787% – 29.5757% | 28.8638% |
| 2021 | 84 | 20.0188% | 9.9970% – 31.8060% | 29.3322% |
| 2020 | 89 | 20.9788% | 11.9424% – 30.1670% | 29.7953% |
| 2019 | 113 | 15.7220% | 8.1950% – 24.6987% | 25.0796% |
| 2018 | 101 | 16.3034% | 7.4254% – 25.4614% | 28.0847% |
| 2017 | 96 | 15.4620% | 6.5938% – 24.3471% | 24.3361% |
| 2016 | 89 | 17.0367% | 10.4641% – 25.5801% | 24.6282% |
| 2015 | 88 | 15.6095% | 8.1942% – 24.9432% | 23.0320% |
| 2014 | 83 | 16.2787% | 7.8959% – 25.7069% | 22.5353% |
| 2013 | 60 | 14.7914% | 6.8246% – 23.2372% | 22.0399% |
062022 → 2023
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after69 countries were measured in both 2022 and 2023. The field changed from 105 to 90 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Adults with a bachelor's degree in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
52.7169%
Adults 25+ who completed a bachelor's degree or higher (%)
Lowest reading on record
0.0000%
Adults 25+ who completed a bachelor's degree or higher (%)
Biggest improvement between editions
+14.8715
31.6905% → 46.5620%
Biggest decline between editions
−7.4880
10.9654% → 3.4774%
Most improved since first measured
+23.2472
7.5866% → 30.8338%
At the top most often
6 of 11
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08By sex
Inside the number
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) also publishes separate female and male readings. The gap between them, where both exist.
Of the 88 countries with both readings, the female reading is higher in 53, the male reading in 35. The widest gaps each way:
09The measure
About adults with a bachelor's degree
This is the share of adults aged 25 and over who hold at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent. It describes how far a country's adult population went in education, one rung above upper secondary attainment on the same ladder.
What the number is: Adults 25+ who completed a bachelor's degree or higher (%).
10Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Education & Knowledge, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where adults with a bachelor's degree is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Human Development IndexKeyUNDP Human Development Report Office · 88 countries in commonρ 0.87
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 83 countries in commonρ 0.87
- Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison)GGDC · 82 countries in commonρ 0.85
Moves against
Where adults with a bachelor's degree is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Mortality Rate, Ages 5–14UN IGME · 88 countries in commonρ −0.82
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 85 countries in commonρ −0.82
- Adolescent Birth Rate (Ages 15–19)UN DESA Population Division · 90 countries in commonρ −0.81
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 223 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
11Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The countries at either end
12Questions
Adults with a bachelor's degree: questions and answers
Which country has the highest adults with a bachelor's degree?
United Arab Emirates, at 52.7169%, among the 90 countries compared in 2023.
Which country has the lowest adults with a bachelor's degree?
Zimbabwe, at 1.1349%, among the 90 countries compared in 2023.
How many countries does the Bachelor's or Higher Attainment cover?
90 in 2023, and 188 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 60 to 113 between editions.
What is the world average adults with a bachelor's degree?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 90 compared in 2023, the figure was 19.8568%.
Is this UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)’s own ranking?
No. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Bachelor's or Higher Attainment published?
This site holds 11 editions, describing 2013 to 2023.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), under CC BY-SA 4.0. From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (EA.6T8.AG25T99), with UIS's own footnote on every reading. Years reporting fewer than 50 countries are left out. Female and male rates are stored beside the headline. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
13Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Bachelor's or Higher Attainment — UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (EA.6T8.AG25T99), with UIS's own footnote on every reading. Years reporting fewer than 50 countries are left out. Female and male rates are stored beside the headline.
Newest edition
Report year 2023Data year 2023
Cite the source as: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. UIS Data Browser. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- United Arab Emirates — Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ireland — derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Luxembourg — Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Adults with a bachelor's degree by country: Bachelor's or Higher Attainment, data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/bachelors-attainment