Lessons from the world's most educated country
05 June 2025
Would you have guessed that the Irish are the most university-educated people in the world? A recent analysis found that over 52% of Ireland's active population has at least a bachelor's degree, ahead of Switzerland (46%).
That's a huge increase from 1998, when just one in five 25- to 34-year-olds graduated from university. That number has tripled since and sits at 65% – for comparison, the OECD average is 45%.
How do you do that? One way is by having no tuition fees, which in Ireland ended in 1995, making college more accessible. On top of that, Ireland has set up seemingly effective measures considered "unusually comprehensive" by the OECD, such as financial tools to provide for students' needs and policies supporting disadvantaged groups to access college.
Of course, not everything is perfect. Attending college has become more difficult in the past few years, mainly due to the usual culprit: housing. Students renting accommodation in 2024 faced college costs which were 92% more expensive than their 2019 counterparts.
More importantly, the increase in college graduates has come with a historic labour shortage as the increase isn't matching the country's labour needs: a recent poll found that 83% of employers struggled to find candidates, compared to 34% pre-pandemic.
But that's just not what teenagers are interested in. And it has important consequences: imagine trying to solve a housing crisis without construction workers...
 | Ciara Boulman |
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