In a report issued yesterday by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveals that Scotland is the best educated country in Europe.

The report shows that 44% per cent of people in Scotland between the ages of 25 and 64 have received some form of tertiary education which includes university degrees and further education. This places Scotland ahead of Ireland, Luxembourg and Finland these being only other countries to have scored more than 40%.

Joe Grice, chief economic adviser at the ONS said: “In terms of the proportion of the population going into higher and tertiary education, Scotland actually has just about the highest in the world,” And: “Scotland also does very well in terms of people in the working-age population group of 16 to 64 years olds that have got a qualification at NVQ4 or above.”

The UK scored 39.6%, placing it fifth, followed by Cyprus, Estonia and Sweden. France scored 32.1 % and Germany’s 28.5%.

The term ‘UK’ implies that the figure of 39.6% also includes those for Scotland (44%), Northern Ireland (32.5%) and Wales (36.1%). Does that mean that the figure for the UK is bolstered by those for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales? Without separate figures for England only we will never be sure.

NOTE: The report is entitled: Figure 6: ‘Population aged 25 to 64 with tertiary education attainment, 2013’ (Excel sheet 28Kb) and can be downloaded from the Office of National Statistics web site.