Absolute educational mobility
Data on how the education level of people in the UK compares to their parents' education level.
- Summary main findings
- By highest level of parental qualification
- By area
- By sex
- By ethnicity
- By disability status
- About the data
- Download the data
Summary main findings
For people whose parents had no qualifications, 70% had some qualifications themselves, and 18% had a university degree.
People whose parents had a university degree were more likely to have a degree themselves (64%) than people whose parents had no qualifications (18%).
There were only small differences in educational mobility between men and women. Among people whose parents had university degrees, 67% of women and 61% of men had degrees themselves.
For people whose parents did not have a university degree:
- those from Chinese (64%), White Other (44%), Indian (40%) and Pakistani (37%) ethnic backgrounds were the most likely to have a degree themselves out of all ethnic groups
- those living in London (39%) and the South East (32%) were the most likely out of all regions to get a degree themselves – those living in the East Midlands (22%), Wales (23%), Yorkshire and the Humber (24%), and the West Midlands (26%) were least likely
People with a long-term illness or disability were less likely to have a university degree than people without a disability from the same education background. They were also more likely to have no qualifications.
By highest level of parental qualification
- Visualisation for by highest level of parental qualification
- Data for by highest level of parental qualification
- Download for by highest level of parental qualification
Visualisation for by highest level of parental qualification
Highest level of qualification of 25 to 64 year olds, by highest level of parental qualification (UK, 2020)
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Data for by highest level of parental qualification
| Parents' highest qualification | No qualifications (%) | School qualifications (%) | Post-school qualifications (%) | University (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No qualifications | 30.1 | 41.9 | 10.3 | 17.6 |
| School qualifications | 13.7 | 44.0 | 12.3 | 30.0 |
| Post-school qualifications | 13.1 | 37.4 | 13.6 | 35.9 |
| University | 6.4 | 20.1 | 9.5 | 64.0 |
Download for by highest level of parental qualification
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation for by area
Percentage of people whose parents did not have a university degree who got a degree themselves, by area of current residence (UK, 2020)
Data for by area
| Region | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| East Midlands | 22.3 |
| East of England | 28.5 |
| London | 39.0 |
| North East | 26.6 |
| North West | 29.7 |
| Northern Ireland | 27.8 |
| Scotland | 28.9 |
| South East | 32.4 |
| South West | 31.1 |
| Wales | 22.8 |
| West Midlands | 25.9 |
| Yorks and Humber | 23.5 |
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By sex
Visualisation for by sex
Highest level of qualification of 25 to 64 year olds, by highest level of parental qualification and sex (UK, 2020)
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Data for by sex
| Parents' highest qualification | Sex | No qualifications (%) | School qualifications (%) | Post-school qualifications (%) | University (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No qualifications | Male | 32.3 | 41.7 | 8.1 | 18.0 |
| Female | 28.4 | 42.2 | 12.1 | 17.3 | |
| Total | 30.1 | 41.9 | 10.3 | 17.6 | |
| School qualifications | Male | 15.0 | 46.5 | 9.0 | 29.5 |
| Female | 12.7 | 42.0 | 14.8 | 30.5 | |
| Total | 13.7 | 44.0 | 12.3 | 30.0 | |
| Post-school qualifications | Male | 14.3 | 37.5 | 12.2 | 36.0 |
| Female | 12.2 | 37.3 | 14.6 | 35.9 | |
| Total | 13.1 | 37.4 | 13.6 | 35.9 | |
| University | Male | 7.5 | 24.2 | 7.5 | 60.9 |
| Female | 5.5 | 16.5 | 11.3 | 66.7 | |
| Total | 6.4 | 20.1 | 9.5 | 64.0 |
Download for by sex
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By ethnicity
Visualisation for by ethnicity
Percentage of people whose parents did not have a university degree who got a degree themselves, by ethnicity (UK, 2020)
Data for by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Percentage obtaining degrees of those whose parents did not have degrees (upwards mobility) (%) |
|---|---|
| Bangladeshi | 32.4 |
| Chinese | 64.4 |
| Indian | 40.2 |
| Pakistani | 37.2 |
| Black African | 29.3 |
| Black Caribbean | 33.1 |
| Mixed | 32.0 |
| White British | 27.6 |
| White Other | 43.9 |
| Other | 35.2 |
Download for by ethnicity
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By disability status
- Visualisation for by disability status
- Data for by disability status
- Download for by disability status
Visualisation for by disability status
Highest level of qualification of 25 to 64 year olds, by highest level of parental qualification and disability status (UK, 2020)
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Data for by disability status
| Parents' highest qualification | Disabled | No qualifications (%) | School qualifications (%) | Post-school qualifications (%) | University (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No qualifications | Yes | 37.0 | 38.8 | 9.6 | 14.6 |
| No | 25.4 | 44.2 | 10.8 | 19.6 | |
| School qualifications | Yes | 15.5 | 47.7 | 14.0 | 22.9 |
| No | 12.9 | 42.2 | 11.4 | 33.4 | |
| Post-school qualifications | Yes | 14.7 | 38.7 | 14.7 | 31.9 |
| No | 12.3 | 36.8 | 13.0 | 37.8 | |
| University | Yes | 5.6 | 28.4 | 10.2 | 55.7 |
| No | 6.7 | 17.1 | 9.4 | 66.8 |
Download for by disability status
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About the data
Data source
The UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS)
Time period
2020
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data measures absolute educational mobility among 25 to 64 year olds in the UK.
Upward absolute educational mobility is when someone has higher level qualifications than their parents. Downward mobility is when they have lower qualifications.
Things you need to know
If respondents have more than one parent, the data measures the parent with the highest level of qualification.
Qualifications for respondents and their parents are divided into 4 categories:
- university degrees
- post-school qualifications
- school qualifications
- no qualifications
Data analysed by ethnicity and by area only includes respondents whose parents did not have a degree.
For data by disability status, respondents were asked if they had a physical or mental impairment, illness or disability for at least 12 months. This is different from Labour Force Survey data, which specifies that the condition should be both long-term and limiting. We do not know how long respondents had the illness or disability, and it is possible that they completed their education before the illness or disability occurred. Because of this, the data is likely to underestimate the effects of disability.
For data by area, the region used is where respondents currently live, not where they grew up. Because of this, the percentages may reflect graduates moving in from, or out to, other areas.
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, weighted using UKHLS population weights.
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 25KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Value
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area name
- Time period
- Socio-economic background
- Age
- Sex
- Category type
- Category
- Category type2
- Category2
- Sample size
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Unit
- Value note