Press Release 10/09/2015
One out of four people in the Basque Country had a university education in 2014
Of those who hold a Vocational Qualification, two out of every three studied for it at higher education level
Nearly one in four people over the age of ten, 24.4%, had intermediate-higher or higher university studies in 2014, a total of 480,000 people, according to Eustat data.
Of these, 328,500 had a higher university level of training, which accounted for 16.7%. This figure represents an increase of 0.5 percentage points and of 10,000 people compared to 2013. This proportion of university graduates rose to 17.1% for women, whereas it stayed at just 16.4% for men, widening the differences that existed in 2013.
Conversely, the illiteracy rate among the over 10s was 0.4% in 2014: 0.3% in the case of men and 0.6% in the case of women. This rate was particularly high among the elderly and, therefore, while the rate stood at 0.1% for the under 65s, it jumped to 1.1% for the over 65s, although it had dropped by 0.1 percent with respect to 2013.
The differences in the level of education by province were small. Comparatively, a higher proportion of individuals were educated to secondary school level in Álava, 22.5% compared to 21.3% for the Basque Country as a whole. Bizkaia, for its part, topped the average level of university studies by 0.9 tenths, reaching 25.3%. Gipuzkoa, with 18.2%, was up 1.1 percentage points on the Basque Country as a whole in terms of the proportion of people that had obtained vocational training qualifications.
The distribution of the level of education by region presented bigger differences. Regions whose university level of education stood out included Plentzia-Mungia, 33.6%, Donostia-San Sebastián, 26.7%, and Estribaciones del Gorbea, 26.6%. The following regions stood out in terms of their level of vocational training qualifications: Valles Alaveses, 21.7%; Encartaciones, 21%, and Alto Deba, 20.7%. And the most prominent regions in terms of secondary education level were Bajo Bidasoa, 23.5%, Llanada Alavesa, 23.2%, and Plentzia-Mungia, 22.9%.
Population aged 10 and above with a university level of education by region. Basque Country (%). 2014
Source: Eustat. Municipal Statistics on Education
There was a rise in the number of qualifications in secondary education and in vocational and university studies compared to 2013
Based on the level of qualifications, in 2014 19.6% of the population over 10 years of age held a secondary education qualification. This proportion rose to 20.3% in the case of men and fell to 19% in the case of women. Compared to 2013, the number of people qualified at this level of education increased by 0.2 percentage points.
In the case of university qualifications, 18.9% of the population over 10 years of age held an intermediate-higher or higher qualification. This proportion rose to 20.7% in the case of women and reached 17% in the case of men. Compared to 2013, the number of intermediate-higher and higher qualifications increased by 0.2 percentage points.
The population holding vocational training qualifications also grew from 15.9% in 2013 to 16.1% in 2014. More men held qualifications, 19.2%, than women, 13.3%. The detail of vocational training qualifications shows that two in three qualifications issued corresponded to higher level (66.2%), i.e. qualifications obtained after completing any of the higher-level training cycles.
As with the level of education, in the case of the level of qualifications, Bizkaia recorded the highest proportion with university degrees, 20%, followed by Gipuzkoa, 17.9%, and Álava, 17.2%. For its part, Álava had the highest proportion of people qualified in secondary education, 20.4%; followed by Gipuzkoa, 19.8%; and Bizkaia, 19.3%. Finally, Gipuzkoa had the highest proportion of individuals with vocational qualifications, 17.2%, compared to 16.3% in Álava and 15.4% in Bizkaia.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Municipal statistics on education of the Basque Country