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Asylum applications in January 2026
Growth in tertiary education among young foreigners
Between 2014 and 2024, the share of non-EU citizens residing in the EU aged 25-34 with tertiary education (ISCED levels 5-8) grew by 12.5 percentage points (pp), from 24.2% in 2014 to 36.7% in 2024. For citizens of other EU countries of the same age group, the share was 41.1% in 2024, up 7.4 pp since 2014 (33.7%).
Meanwhile, the share of nationals of the reporting country with tertiary education was 45.1% last year, an increase of 8.3 pp since 2014 (36.8%).
Source dataset: edat_lfs_9911
From a gender point of view, women aged 25-34 years of the reporting country had the highest share of tertiary education at 51.2%, ahead of women from other EU countries and those from non-EU countries, at 45.9% and 40.5%, respectively.
This means that women from non-EU countries have a higher share of tertiary education than men from the reporting countries (39.3%), who otherwise registered the highest share among men. They are followed by men from other EU countries (36.2%) and men from non-EU countries (33.0%).
For all 3 citizenship categories, the gender gap was pronounced. The largest difference was between women and men being citizens of the reporting country (11.9 pp), compared with other EU countries (9.7 pp) and non-EU countries (7.5 pp).
Source dataset: edat_lfs_9911
For more information
- Statistics Explained article on migrant integration statistics - education
- Thematic section on migration and asylum
- Thematic section on migrant integration
- Database on migrant integration
- Thematic section on education and training statistics
- Database on education and training statistics
- Migrant integration and inclusion dashboard
Methodological notes
- Individuals are classified by their citizenship into two groups: nationals and foreign citizens. Nationals are individuals who are citizens of the country in which they reside, referred to as the reporting country. Foreign citizens are those who do not have citizenship in their country of residence. This group is further divided into 2 groups: those who hold the citizenship of another EU country and those who hold the citizenship of a non-EU country.
- This article uses EU labour force survey (EU-LFS) data focusing on the age group 25-34 years. This age group is the focus of the Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030), which sets an EU-level target that the share of people aged 25-34 with a tertiary level of education should be at least 45% by 2030.
- Tertiary education refers to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 5-8. These include:
- ISCED level 5: Short-cycle tertiary education
- ISCED level 6: Bachelor’s or equivalent
- ISCED level 7: Master’s or equivalent
- ISCED level 8: Doctoral or equivalent
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