Further training and qualifications
Published:
11 September 2024
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Data on the percentage of people aged 25 and 32 years with a university degree, by socio-economic background.
Summary main findings
The percentage of young people who go on to get a university degree increases between the ages of 25 and 32 years. This is the case for young people from all socio-economic backgrounds.
25% of people from working class backgrounds had a degree by 25 years old. This went up to 39% by age 32 years.
38% of people from intermediate backgrounds had a degree by 25 years old. This went up to 52% by age 32 years.
55% of people from professional backgrounds had a degree by 25 years old. This went up to 74% by age 32 years.
By socio-economic background
Visualisation
Percentage of people born in 1990 who had got a degree by 25 and 32 years old, by socio-economic background (UK, 2015 and 2022)
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Data
| Age | Working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Professional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 24.9 | 37.6 | 55.1 |
| 32 | 38.8 | 51.6 | 73.9 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Time period
2015 and 2022
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of people born in 1990 who had a university degree by the ages of 25 and 32 years old, by socio-economic background.
Data is shown for the following socio-economic backgrounds:
- professional class (combining the higher and lower professional classes)
- intermediate class
- working class (combining the higher and lower working classes)
These are based on the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC), set by the ONS.
Things you need to know
Data is weighted using LFS person weights.
The data compares 2 separate samples from surveys in 2015 and 2022. It does not compare the same people at different time points.
The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. Read more about confidence intervals.
Type of data
Survey data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2024 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 1KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area code
- Area name
- Time period
- Socio-economic background
- Age
- Sex
- Value
- Sample size
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Standard error
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
11 September 2024