Further training and qualifications
Published:
29 October 2026
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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
Across all socio-economic backgrounds, the percentage of people with a university degree went up between age 25 and age 32. Young people from professional backgrounds consistently had the highest percentage of degree attainment – young people from working backgrounds had the lowest.
Among people born in 1993:
- 25% of those from working class backgrounds had a degree by 25 years old – this went up to 32% by age 32 years
- 38% of those from intermediate backgrounds had a degree by 25 years old – this went up to 59% by age 32 years
- 51% of those from professional backgrounds had a degree by 25 years old – this went up to 68% by age 32 years
By socio-economic background
Visualisation
Percentage of people born in 1993 who had got a degree by 25 and 32 years old, by socio-economic background (UK, 2018 and 2025)
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Data
| Age | Working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Professional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 25.5 | 37.8 | 51.2 |
| 32 | 31.6 | 58.8 | 68.2 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By year of birth
Visualisation
Percentage of people born between 1989 and 1993 who had got a degree by 25 and 32 years old, by socio-economic background (UK, 2014 to 2018, and 2021 to 2025)
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Data
| Year of birth | Working (%) | Professional (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age 25 | Age 32 | Age 25 | Age 32 | |
| 1993 | 25.5 | 31.6 | 51.2 | 68.2 |
| 1992 | 21.7 | 32.3 | 63.9 | 72.7 |
| 1991 | 27.8 | 31.4 | 57.1 | 64.0 |
| 1990 | 26.4 | 36.2 | 55.1 | 72.9 |
| 1989 | 19.6 | 38.0 | 56.0 | 68.4 |
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
- 2018 and 2025 (By socio-economic background)
- 2014 to 2018, and 2021 to 2025 (By year of birth)
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of young people born in cohorts from 1989 to 1993 who had university degrees at:
- age 25 years (between 2014 and 2018)
- age 32 years (between 2021 and 2025)
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 for each age point from surveys. It does not compare the same people at different time points.
The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. Read more about confidence intervals.
These figures may differ from last years’ findings. This variation is likely due to smaller annual sample sizes, which can lead to higher year-on-year volatility and a larger margin for measurement error compared to multi-year averages.
Type of data
Survey data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2026 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 5KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Measure code
- Measure title
- Chart type
- Area code
- Area type
- Area name
- Primary split type
- Primary split value
- Secondary split type
- Secondary split value
- Tertiary split type
- Tertiary split value
- Time period
- Value
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Sample size
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
29 October 2026