Report: Romania ranks last in EU regarding proportion of people with higher education

Romania ranks last in the European Union in terms of the percentage of the population that has completed higher education, with only 19% of the adult population, in contrast to the European average of 35%, according to the Social Monitor, a project of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Romania.

Experts say that this tertiary education rate is one of the most frequently used criteria for determining the level of economic investment and development in a given region over the medium and long term.

According to the latest Eurostat data (from 2023), Romania has long occupied the last place in the European Union regarding the proportion of higher education graduates (19% of the 25-64 age group)—just over half of the European average (35%).

Despite the relatively high number of diplomas awarded by public and private universities, the proportion of graduates in the population remains low due to the emigration of many of them. Moreover, the gap compared to the European average is widening, as it was 11% in 2011, and 17% now.

For comparison, other post-communist countries have higher percentages of college graduates. Lithuania (46%), Estonia (42%), Poland (38%), and Slovenia (34%) have significantly higher education rates. The country in second-to-last place before Romania is Italy, with a tertiary education rate of 22%.

Furthermore, the educational disparities between Romania's regions are considerable. The Bucharest-Ilfov region registers a proportion of higher education graduates (39%) above the European average. On the other hand, of the 10 EU regions with the lowest proportions of higher education graduates, five are in Romania. Other regions are in the Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia, and Portugal.

The EU regions with the most people with higher education are the Brabant region in Belgium, which overlaps with Brussels, Sostines in Lithuania (Vilnius), and Warszawski Stołeczny in Poland (Warsaw), where 62% of the population are higher education graduates. The Romanian regions of South-Muntenia (13%), North-East, South-East (14%), and South-West Oltenia (16%) are the ones with the lowest proportions of higher education graduates in the European Union.

(Photo source: Michelle Marsan | Dreamstime.com)