Distribution of parental education

Data on the highest qualification levels of parents in families with dependent children.

Summary main findings
By year
By area
About the data
Download the data

Summary main findings

41% of adults in families with dependent children had a degree or above in 2021, up from 30% in 2014.

26% had GCSEs or below in 2021, down from 33% in 2014.

By year

Percentage of adults in families with dependent children in different education levels, over time (UK, 2014 to 2021)

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Percentage of adults in families with dependent children in different education levels, over time (UK, 2014 to 2021)
Year	Lower level (below CSE grade 1) (%)	O level, GCSE and equivalent (%)	A level and equivalent (%)	Further education (%)	Degree and above (%)
2021	13.5	13.0	23.4	8.6	41.5
2020	14.1	13.2	24.5	9.2	38.9
2019	15.9	13.7	25.1	9.3	36.0
2018	15.8	14.8	25.1	9.2	35.1
2017	15.8	14.7	25.3	9.9	34.3
2016	16.4	15.0	25.3	10.0	33.3
2015	16.9	15.8	25.3	10.3	31.6
2014	17.2	16.3	26.5	10.3	29.7

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By area

Percentage of adults in families with dependent children with a higher education qualification, by region (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest percentages. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions.

The lines either side of the dots represent confidence intervals – the range of values that the 'true' value for each region is highly likely to be within. In many cases the confidence intervals overlap. This suggests differences between specific regions may not be statistically significant.

See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.

Q1 - Lowest 20%

Q5 - Highest 20%

Percentage of adults in families with dependent children with a higher education qualification, by region (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)
Region	Percentage (%)
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	38.3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire	48.4
Cheshire	41.5
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	27.7
Cumbria	26.3
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire	29.4
Devon	33.0
Dorset and Somerset	31.9
East Anglia	30.8
East Wales	35.9
East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	24.3
Eastern Scotland	38.2
Essex	28.0
Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area	37.7
Greater Manchester	33.0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	35.7
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire	35.1
Highlands and Islands	32.0
Inner London - East	46.0
Inner London - West	65.1
Kent	31.2
Lancashire	27.9
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire	29.6
Lincolnshire	22.3
Merseyside	31.3
North Eastern Scotland	37.6
North Yorkshire	35.5
Northern Ireland	30.4
Northumberland and Tyne and Wear	29.2
Outer London - East and North East	40.2
Outer London - South	47.1
Outer London - West and North West	49.6
Shropshire and Staffordshire	27.8
South Yorkshire	22.1
Southern Scotland	27.7
Surrey, East and West Sussex	41.2
Tees Valley and Durham	23.9
West Central Scotland	31.4
West Midlands	27.2
West Wales and The Valleys	26.0
West Yorkshire	28.5

For the full download file, see Download the data.

About the data

Data source

Labour Force Survey (LFS), Office for National Statistics.

Time period

2014 to 2021

Geographic area

What the data measures

The data shows the education levels of adults in families with dependent children. Dependent children are classed as all 0 to 15 year olds, and 16 to 18 year olds who are in full-time education.

The education levels are:

lower level (below CSE grade 1)
O level, GCSE and equivalent
A level and equivalent
further education (below degree level)
higher education (degree level and above)

Things you need to know

The average age of survey respondents was 40 years old. The majority of respondents are likely to be the parents or carers of dependent children, but some could be adults living in homes with parents who have dependent children.

Respondents aged less than 21 years old were not included.

Data is weighted using LFS probability weights.

The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. These intervals show where we expect the true value from a population to be 95% of the time. For example, a confidence interval with the range of values from 5 to 10 implies that there is a 95% chance that the true population value is between 5 and 10, and a 5% chance that it is outside of this range. The narrower the confidence interval or range, the more precise the estimate. Read more about confidence intervals

Type of data

Survey data

Full report

Download the data

Download full dataset (CSV, 18KB)

This file contains the following variables:

Indicator code
Indicator name
Area type
Area code
Area name
Time period
Age
Sex
Category type
Category
Value
Sample size
Lower confidence interval
Upper confidence interval
Unit

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