Year-over-year change: -1.3 pp, trend down
5-year change: +3.9 pp, trend up
United Arab Emirates
Short-cycle tertiary education or higher: 55.7%
View MorePercentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education
Global32.9%
19702024
2024
Rankings at a glance
Highest 10 · Percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education (2024)
Among the 31 countries with 2024 data, the United Arab Emirates has the highest percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education, recording 55.67% in 2024, followed by Singapore (53.19%) and the United States (49.83%). South Korea (49.56%) and Australia (47.47%) complete the top 5. Saudi Arabia (43.02%) and Switzerland (41.61%) follow close behind. Bahrain (39.83%), Spain (35.41%), and Georgia (33.7%) round out the top ten. The spread across the top ten is substantial: the United Arab Emirates has 1.7× the figure recorded by Georgia (33.7%). Six of the top ten are in Asia, with four from Western Asia. Among these countries, Saudi Arabia saw the largest year-over-year change at +7.3 pp.
Rank changes
How percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education changed between 2019 and 2024
2019and2024
Historical trends
Key terms
- Literacy rate
- — Percentage of population who can read and write a short, simple statement about everyday life.
- Gross enrollment ratio
- — Total enrollment in a level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the eligible school-age population.
- Completion rate
- — Percentage of a cohort of children who complete a given level of education.
- Out-of-school rate
- — Percentage of children of official school age who are not enrolled in school.
- Pupil-teacher ratio
- — Enrolled pupils per TRAINED teacher at a given level of education. It measures how thinly trained teachers are spread, not average class size: the ratio rises when fewer teachers meet the training requirement, whatever happens to the number of pupils in a room.
- Educational attainment
- — Highest level of education completed by the population aged 25 and over.
Frequently asked questions
- Which country has the highest percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education?
- The United Arab Emirates has the highest percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education among the 31 countries with 2024 data at 55.7% as of 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- Which country has the lowest percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education?
- Burkina Faso has the lowest percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education among the 31 countries with 2024 data at 3.0% as of 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the global percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education?
- Weighted by the population aged 25 and over, the global percentage of population 25+ with at least short-cycle tertiary education is 32.9% as of 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
