Cyprus had the third largest share of its population aged 25 - 34 years old that had completed tertiary education (59%), well above the EU average (42%), according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union.

In 2022, 42% of the EU population aged 25-34 years had tertiary education, which was an increase of 1 percentage point (pp) compared with 2021 (41%). Cyprus also saw an increase of 1 pp during the same period, from 58% to 59%.

The EU percentage still fell short by 3 pp from the EU's 2030 target, which aims for 45% of the EU population in the same age group to have tertiary education.

Both in Cyprus as well as in the EU, the percentage of people that had tertiary education was greater among women aged 25-34 than men of the same age (67% of women and 51% of men in Cyprus, 48% of women and 37% of men in the EU).

Almost half of the EU countries have already met the 2030 EU-level target for this indicator: Ireland (62%), Luxembourg (61%), Cyprus (59%), Lithuania (58%), the Netherlands (56%), Sweden (52%), Spain and Belgium (both 51%), France (50%), Denmark (49%), Slovenia (47%), Latvia (46%) and Greece (45%).

In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Romania (25%), Italy (29%) and Hungary (32%).