Key Takeaways
- The EU’s universities enrolled 19.1 million students in 2024. Women led men by 9.8 percentage points.
- Men outnumbered women in university enrollment in only two EU countries in 2024. Ireland’s percentage difference was 2.0 points, and Greece’s was 1.2 points.
- Sweden, Poland, and Estonia have the EU’s widest gender gaps in university enrollment. Each percentage difference exceeds 19 points.
- Germany has the smallest gender gap in university enrollment of any EU country with a female majority. Its difference is 1.3 points.
Percentage Difference in University Enrollment by Sex Across EU Countries
| Country | University Students (In thousands, %) | Female Lead (In pp) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | ||
| Sweden | 194.2 (39.3%) | 300.1 (60.7%) | 21.4 |
| Poland | 557.3 (39.9%) | 840.3 (60.1%) | 20.2 |
| Estonia | 17.8 (40.1%) | 26.6 (59.9%) | 19.8 |
| Cyprus | 24.0 (41.5%) | 33.9 (58.5%) | 17.1 |
| Croatia | 64.6 (41.5%) | 90.8 (58.5%) | 16.9 |
| Latvia | 30.8 (41.6%) | 43.2 (58.4%) | 16.8 |
| Slovakia | 59.2 (41.9%) | 81.9 (58.1%) | 16.1 |
| Slovenia | 33.9 (42.1%) | 46.7 (57.9%) | 15.9 |
| Lithuania | 42.5 (42.2%) | 58.3 (57.8%) | 15.6 |
| Denmark | 122.9 (42.2%) | 168.0 (57.8%) | 15.5 |
| Bulgaria* | 83.8 (42.8%) | 111.9 (57.2%) | 14.4 |
| Czechia | 148.1 (43.1%) | 195.7 (56.9%) | 13.8 |
| Italy | 1,001.5 (43.3%) | 1,310.3 (56.7%) | 13.4 |
| Belgium | 239.0 (43.4%) | 312.1 (56.6%) | 13.3 |
| France | 1,276.6 (44.3%) | 1,602.6 (55.7%) | 11.3 |
| Finland | 150.9 (44.5%) | 187.9 (55.5%) | 10.9 |
| Romania | 243.1 (44.6%) | 301.6 (55.4%) | 10.7 |
| Malta | 10.0 (44.7%) | 12.3 (55.3%) | 10.6 |
| Spain | 1,100.4 (45.0%) | 1,343.8 (55.0%) | 10.0 |
| Austria | 199.5 (45.1%) | 242.7 (54.9%) | 9.8 |
| Hungary | 140.6 (45.3%) | 169.8 (54.7%) | 9.4 |
| Portugal | 198.2 (46.1%) | 232.0 (53.9%) | 7.9 |
| Netherlands | 447.7 (46.2%) | 521.8 (53.8%) | 7.6 |
| Luxembourg† | 4.0 (47.5%) | 4.4 (52.5%) | 5.0 |
| Germany | 1,615.6 (49.4%) | 1,656.5 (50.6%) | 1.3 |
| Greece | 448.3 (50.6%) | 437.2 (49.4%) | -1.2 |
| Ireland | 144.7 (51.0%) | 139.1 (49.0%) | -2.0 |
Source: Eurostat (2024)
Tertiary education covers ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8: short-cycle tertiary, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs.
Male %, female %, and the percentage-point gap are calculated by GermanPedia from Eurostat’s enrollment counts, for each country. Negative values indicate a higher male share; positive values indicate a higher female share.
* = break in time series, definition differs (see Eurostat metadata)
† = definition differs from standard (see Eurostat metadata)
Ireland and Greece Are the Only EU Countries Where Men Outnumber Women in University Enrollment
Women’s majority of university students does not hold across the entire EU.
Ireland and Greece both enrolled more men than women in university in 2024:
- Ireland: men lead by 2.0 percentage points
- Greece: men lead by 1.2 percentage points
Ireland and Greece’s percentage differences stay narrow compared to the rest of the EU.
Greece’s current university enrollment numbers mark a reversal of its former female majority. Official Greek government data put women at 55 to 58.5 percent of university enrollment between the 2010/11 and 2014/15 academic years.
Greece’s 2010/11-2014/15 female share of university students gave it a lead of up to 17 percentage points at the time. Croatia’s current 16.9-point gender gap runs close to that figure. Greece’s female lead has since disappeared.
After more than a decade, Greece’s historical and current university enrollment figures stand far apart. Enrollment definitions may also differ across that time, pointing to a shift over time rather than a cause.
Sweden, Poland, and Estonia Have the EU’s Widest Gender Gaps in University Enrollment
Three EU countries posted a university enrollment gender gap above 19 points in 2024:
- Sweden: women lead by 21.4 percentage points
- Poland: women lead by 20.2 percentage points
- Estonia: women lead by 19.8 percentage points
Sweden, Poland, and Estonia’s university enrollment gender gaps are roughly double the EU-wide gender gap of 9.8 percentage points.
Sweden’s tertiary attainment gap between men and women reached 17.2 percentage points in the 25-34 age group.
A large share of jobs in Sweden’s healthcare, education, and social care sectors are held mostly by women. Family policy adds another piece of context for Sweden’s wide female-led university enrollment gap.
Parental leave and preschool access make it easier for women in Sweden to combine work and study.
Meanwhile, 57% of Polish women aged 30-34 held a tertiary qualification in 2024. Only 39% of Polish men in the same age group held one.
Poland’s university enrollment gender gap is explained by secondary-school performance. Test-score differences between Polish boys and girls at a young age steer them toward different levels of education later on.
A gender gap in Poland’s university completion also appears after enrollment. Polish men are more likely to drop out of tertiary education before finishing. They are also less likely to continue from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree.
Which European Countries Have the Highest Education Levels? ->
Meanwhile, Estonia’s tertiary attainment gap between men and women reached 21.6 percentage points, nearly double the EU average of 11.2 points.
Estonia’s education system sends boys and girls down different paths. Boys there choose vocational education and training more often than girls.
Girls are more likely to continue into general upper-secondary education and then university. This path explains Estonia’s wide university enrollment gender gap.
Women’s University Enrollment Leads Concentrate in a Few Fields of Study
Women’s university enrollment leads come from a handful of fields of study. It does not spread evenly across every subject.
Among the EU’s 2024 graduates, four fields of study show the widest male-female enrollment splits:
- Education: women lead by 57.6 percentage points
- Health and welfare: women lead by 45.4 percentage points
- Engineering: men lead by 44.4 percentage points
- Information and communication technology: men lead by 58.2 percentage points
This STEM-versus-humanities field split stems from stereotypes formed early in schooling. Boys reported higher self-efficacy than girls in 39 of 67 countries worldwide in a PISA study of 15-year-olds, well before students choose a university field.
Beyond field choice, two broader factors explain why more women enter tertiary education overall. The first is what happens during secondary school.
Young women tend to perform better in secondary school than young men. Better secondary-school performance widens women’s access to tertiary study.
The EU’s early school-leaving rate reached 10.6% for men in 2025. Women’s rate was 7.5% that year.
The second factor behind women’s overall tertiary enrollment lead is what happens after graduation: women also see stronger labor-market returns from a degree than men do.
Germany’s University Enrollment Splits Almost Evenly Between Men and Women
Women led Germany’s university enrollment by 1.3 percentage points in 2024. This narrow gender gap comes from two opposing patterns by field of study.
Women made up a small share of Germany’s technical fields in 2023:
- ICT: 22.1% women
- Engineering: 23.4% women
Men’s concentration in technical fields and women’s concentration in health, education, law and social sciences largely offset each other. As a result, Germany stays close to gender parity.
Germany’s Student Population Is Becoming More International ->
The university enrollment gender gap now runs through nearly every EU country, not just a handful. It reflects how school and the labor market shape choices well before students ever apply to university.
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References
- https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/educ_uoe_enrt01__custom_22779459/default/table
- https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/w/wdn-20260812-1
- https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor/en/comparative-report/chapter-6.html
- https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor/en/country-reports/germany.html
- https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor/en/country-reports/sweden.html
- https://edz.bib.uni-mannheim.de/www-edz/pdf/swd/2022/swd-2022-0751-7-en.pdf
- https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099053025142519129/pdf/P179890-1cf05a61-6771-48a8-a5f7-e048727fbb1f.pdf
- https://eige.europa.eu/modules/custom/eige_gei/app/content/downloads/factsheets/PL_2025_factsheet.pdf
- https://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/sweden-gender-gap-widens-in-education-economically-and-politically/
- https://isotita.gr/en/gender-disaggregated-data-status-girls-education-greece/
- https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2019/02/why-don-t-more-girls-choose-to-pursue-a-science-career_5dacc163/02bd2b68-en.pdf
- https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20260604-1
- https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/why-do-more-young-women-than-men-go-on-to-tertiary-education_6f7209d1-en.html
