A new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the number of young people in the UK who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) has decreased by five per cent since 2016 – from 766,000 to 731,000 which is good news for the UK’s productivity.Delving into the data further, research by global training company, TheKnowledgeAcademy.com, investigated where the UK ranks when compared to other European countries for the number of people with higher education qualifications and the employment rate of recent graduates.

Countries with the highest population of graduates

The top five countries with the highest number of people aged 30 to 34 with a degree, diploma or vocational qualification are:

1. Lithuania (58.7 per cent)
2. Luxembourg (54.6 per cent)
3. Cyprus (53.4 per cent)
4. Ireland (52.9 per cent)
5. Switzerland (51.2 per cent) 

The UK ranks ninth, with 48.2 per cent.The European countries with the lowest percentage of people with post–secondary education qualifications include:Slovakia (31.5% per cent), Malta (29.9 per cent), Croatia (29.3 per cent), Italy (26.2 per cent) and Romania (25.6 per cent).

Number of graduates employed after graduation

Surprisingly, when looking at the percentage of graduates aged from 20 to 34 employed soon after graduating, the highest ranking countries differed entirely from the countries with the highest number of people holding a post-secondary qualification.The top 5 countries for employment rates are:

1. Malta (96.6 per cent)
2. Iceland (94.7 per cent)
3. Germany (90.1 per cent)
4. The Netherlands (90.1 per cent)
5. Norway (90.1 per cent)

The UK ranks 12th, at 84.4 per cent.

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The European countries with the lowest employment rate as a percentage of recent graduates were:Bulgaria (72 per cent), Romania (69.3 per cent), Spain (68 per cent), Italy (52.9 per cent) and Greece (49.2 per cent).Barinder Hothi, managing director of TheKnowledgeAcademy.com, said, “It is reassuring to see that the number of young people not in education, employment or training is continuously declining every year."However, the UK has a long way to go to reach the same level as the top countries with high percentages of people with post–secondary education qualifications and the number of young people employed after graduating. Although it would be interesting to see how many of these graduates’ work in the field they have graduated from.”For related news and features, visit our Education Schools section. Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory 

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