Highest qualification

Data on the highest qualification achieved of 25 to 29 year olds by socio-economic background.

Summary main findings

Young people’s socio-economic background is strongly related to the highest qualification level they achieve by their mid to late 20s.

In 2021, 71% of 25 to 29 year olds from higher professional backgrounds had a first or higher degree, compared with 27% of those from the lower working class.

Young women from every socio-economic background were more likely to have a first degree and less likely to have lower-level qualifications than young men from the same socio-economic background.

Out of all combinations of sex and socio-economic background:

• young men from lower working-class backgrounds were the least qualified – 20% had a first or higher degree
• young women from higher professional backgrounds were the most qualified – 71% had a first or higher degree

25 to 29 year olds from higher professional backgrounds in the Chinese, Indian, Black African, Mixed and Other ethnic groups were more likely to have degrees than White people from the same socio-economic background.

Disabled young people from every socio-economic background were less likely than non-disabled young people to have a university degree. They were also more likely to have lower-level qualifications.

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By socio-economic background

Highest level of qualification achieved by 25 to 29 year olds, by socio-economic background (UK, 2021)

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Highest level of qualification achieved by 25 to 29 year olds, by socio-economic background (UK, 2021)

Socio-economic background	Lower level (below CSE grade 1) (%)	O level, GCSE and equivalent (%)	A level and equivalent (%)	Further education below degree (%)	First degree (%)	Higher degree (%)
Higher professional	3.4	3.7	16.4	5.1	45.2	26.1
Lower professional	3.7	9.6	21.4	5.4	40.1	19.8
Intermediate	9.1	8.6	28.3	6.0	34.8	13.2
Higher working	7.9	10.9	30.2	8.6	31.7	10.7
Lower working	20.2	17.2	30.1	4.6	20.4	7.5
All backgrounds	8.6	9.8	25.0	5.8	35.0	15.9

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By area

Percentage point difference in the likelihood of having achieved a degree by the age of 25 to 29, compared to the national average (UK, 2018 to 2021 combined)

41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest percentage point difference to the national average. 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 point difference in the likelihood of having achieved a degree by the age of 25 to 29, compared to the national average (UK, 2018 to 2021 combined)

Region	Difference compared to average
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	1.9
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire	-0.2
Cheshire	2.0
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	-1.1
Cumbria	-0.9
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire	-2.1
Devon	1.3
Dorset and Somerset	-1.0
East Anglia	-3.2
East Wales	-0.1
East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	-0.7
Eastern Scotland	1.2
Essex	0.3
Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area	-0.5
Greater Manchester	-1.0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	-2.6
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire	0.5
Highlands and Islands	-0.6
Inner London - East	4.9
Inner London - West	2.5
Kent	0.2
Lancashire	0.1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire	0.2
Lincolnshire	-1.6
Merseyside	1.3
North Eastern Scotland	-1.2
North Yorkshire	2.4
Northern Ireland	-0.1
Northumberland and Tyne and Wear	-1.8
Outer London - East and North East	1.3
Outer London - South	-0.6
Outer London - West and North West	3.7
Shropshire and Staffordshire	-0.2
South Yorkshire	-1.6
Southern Scotland	-1.9
Surrey, East and West Sussex	2.6
Tees Valley and Durham	-0.4
West Central Scotland	-2.3
West Midlands	0.9
West Wales and The Valleys	-1.4
West Yorkshire	0.1

Show 21 more rows

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By sex

Highest level of qualification achieved by 25 to 29 year olds, by socio-economic background and sex (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

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Highest level of qualification achieved by 25 to 29 year olds, by socio-economic background and sex (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

Socio-economic background	Sex	Lower level (below CSE grade 1) (%)	O level, GCSE and equivalent (%)	A level and equivalent (%)	Further education below degree (%)	First degree (%)	Higher degree (%)
Higher professional	Men	3.5	7.0	19.2	5.9	42.3	22.0
	Women	3.2	3.9	15.4	6.1	45.0	26.3
Lower professional	Men	5.8	9.8	25.5	7.4	35.4	16.0
	Women	4.2	7.3	20.3	7.2	42.5	18.6
Intermediate	Men	13.0	12.7	28.2	7.0	28.1	10.8
	Women	9.5	10.9	27.9	7.3	32.9	11.5
Higher working	Men	15.8	15.7	33.1	6.7	21.9	6.7
	Women	10.8	14.0	32.0	8.2	27.7	7.2
Lower working	Men	25.1	17.7	30.9	6.0	15.2	4.9
	Women	19.1	17.7	31.3	7.2	18.6	5.8

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By ethnicity

Percentage of 25 to 29 year olds with a university degree, by socio-economic background and ethnicity (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

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Percentage of 25 to 29 year olds with a university degree, by socio-economic background and ethnicity (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

Ethnicity	Lower working (%)	Higher professional (%)
Bangladeshi	28.0	74.6
Chinese	59.2	91.7
Indian	49.3	88.0
Pakistani	24.8	71.4
Black African	29.6	76.1
Black Caribbean	19.2	64.3
Mixed	27.8	74.4
White British	17.7	61.9
White other	24.4	71.0
Other	28.2	74.8

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By disability status

Highest level of qualification achieved by 25 to 29 year olds, by socio-economic background and disability status (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

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Highest level of qualification achieved by 25 to 29 year olds, by socio-economic background and disability status (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)

Socio-economic background	Disabled	Lower level (below CSE grade 1)	O level, GCSE and equivalent	A level and equivalent	Further education below degree	First degree	Higher degree
Higher professional	Yes	5.9	8.1	21.7	7.7	34.9	21.6
	No	3.1	5.2	16.8	5.8	44.7	24.4
Lower professional	Yes	9.6	13.0	25.5	8.7	29.4	13.7
	No	4.3	7.9	22.5	7.1	40.3	17.9
Intermediate	Yes	14.9	15.9	30.5	8.5	20.0	10.1
	No	10.8	11.2	27.8	6.9	32.0	11.3
Higher working	Yes	21.0	17.9	32.8	5.6	19.4	3.3
	No	12.0	14.3	32.6	7.7	25.7	7.5
Lower working	Yes	30.3	21.8	28.3	6.1	10.9	2.6
	No	19.9	16.6	31.9	6.8	18.5	6.1

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About the data

Data source

Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (LFS), 2021

Time period

2014 to 2021 (combined)

Geographic area

UK

What the data measures

The data shows the highest qualification achieved by people aged 25 to 29 years in the UK, by socio-economic background.

Things you need to know

People’s socio-economic background is measured by the occupation of the main wage earner in their household when they were 14 years old.

For data by ethnicity, the data shows whether young people had a university degree or not. This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to measure some qualification levels reliably. The percentages shown are those for men.

For data by disability status, respondents were asked if they had a health condition or illness lasting 12 months or more, and if that condition reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is consistent with the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010.

Data is weighted using LFS probability weights.

Type of data

Survey data

Full report

Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.

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Download the data

Download full dataset (CSV, 48KB)

This file contains the following variables:

• Indicator code
• Indicator name
• Area code
• Area name
• Area type
• Age
• Socio-economic background
• Category type
• Category
• Value
• Lower confidence interval
• Upper confidence interval
• Standard error
• Sample size
• Time period
• Unit
• Sex
• Category type2
• Category2

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