Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Ireland
Ireland: Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education was 51.2% in 2023. β² Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Ireland, 1992β2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Ireland recorded 51.2% for educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in 2023. That is the highest value across all 28 years on record.
That represents a change of up 7.0% on the previous year and up 37.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Ireland peaked at 51.2% in 2023 and was at its lowest, 14.8%, in 1992.
Ireland ranks 5th of 129 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 28 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 17.2% | 14.8% | 19.7% | 6 |
| 2000s | 27.1% | 21.9% | 32.5% | 8 |
| 2010s | 37.6% | 31.8% | 41.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 47.4% | 44.0% | 51.2% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Ireland
- 2 Uzbekistan 61.5% compare
- 3 United Arab Emirates 55.7% compare
- 4 Singapore 53.2% compare
- 6 United States of America 49.8% compare
- 7 Korea 49.6% compare
- 8 Canada 49.3% compare
More education data for Ireland
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 42,162 (2023)
- Duration of pre primary education, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Duration of pre primary education 2 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 65.7% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 18.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 5 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 96.5% (2022)
- Primary education, teachers, per capita 0.0079 units per person (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Ireland?
- Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Ireland was 51.2% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education recorded in Ireland?
- The highest recorded value was 51.2% in 2023.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education recorded in Ireland?
- The lowest recorded value was 14.8% in 1992.
- How does Ireland rank for educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education?
- Ireland ranks 5th out of 129 countries with data for 2023.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education rising or falling in Ireland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 37.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ireland data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education or higher, population 25+ years, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV Β· JSON β 28 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release