Population and Housing Census 2024. Studies

As of 1 January 2024, 36.7% of the population aged 15 and over in Catalonia had attained tertiary education, including both university and higher vocational training and equivalents. By sex, the percentage was higher in women (38.6%) than in men (34.7%). On the other hand, 12.8% of the population aged 15 and over had primary education or lower (11.1% of men and 14.4% of women), 27.2% had lower secondary education (29.7% of men and 24.9% of women) and 23.3% had upper secondary education (24.5% of men and 22.1% of women).

The counties with the highest percentage of the population with tertiary education were El Barcelonès (44.3%), El Pallars Sobirà (42.5%) and El Garraf (40.0%), while the counties with the lowest percentage were La Terra Alta (22.0%), L’Alt Empordà (24.7%) and La Segarra (25.4%). The municipalities with the highest percentages were Sant Cugat del Vallès (63.4%), Renau (62.2%) and Sant Just Desvern (61.5%), and the municipalities with the lowest percentages were La Jonquera (11.0%), Bovera (16.3%) and Salt (16.7%).

By country of birth, among those with more than 20,000 residents in Catalonia (aged 15 and over), Italy (66.6%), the United Kingdom (64.7%) and Germany (61.5%) stood out with the highest percentages of the population with tertiary education. On the other hand, the countries with the highest proportions of the population with primary education or lower were Senegal (37.0%), Pakistan (36.5%) and Morocco (33.7%). Of the population aged 15 and over born in Spain, 37.8% had attained tertiary education and 11.1% had only attained primary education or lower.

A total of 37.9% of the population aged 18 to 24 was enrolled in tertiary education, and the percentage was higher for women (43.7%) than for men (32.7%). The counties with the highest proportion of young people studying tertiary education were El Pallars Sobirà (43.4%), El Pla de l’Estany (42.9%) and El Vallès Occidental (41.9%), and the counties with the lowest percentage were La Selva and El Baix Penedès (30.9%, both) and L’Alt Empordà (31.3%).

In the 106 most populous municipalities, a total of 710 inframunicipal census tract groups were defined. The main indicators of educational attainment and ongoing studies can be viewed in Interactive maps by provinces, areas of the Territorial Plan, counties and Aran, municipalities, census tract groups, census districts and census tracts.