The educational level of young Spaniards is one of the highest in Europe. So much so that Spain has already achieved the objective set by the European authorities of ensuring that by 2030, 45% of young people between the ages of 25 and 34 have tertiary studies (beyond ESO). In fact, according to data from the European statistical office, Eurostat, Spain has far exceeded that percentage and that is thanks to women. According to this report, in 2022, 57% of women had reached this level of training compared to 44.1% of men. With this, Spain stands at 50.5%.
These data, however, contrast with those related to young people who neither study nor work, which is popularly known as ninis and where women are more represented. 12.7% of young people in Spain neither study nor work, a percentage that drops in the case of boys to 12.1% and increases to 13.3% of young women, according to the latest Eurostat data. This places Spain in the seventh country out of 20 European countries with the worst percentage and above the community average, which is 11.7% (13.1% for girls and 10.5% for boys).
Despite everything, the trend in the percentage of ninis is downward, since that 11.7% in 2022 represents 1.4 percentage points less than in 2021.
A trend that is not now. Over the past decade there has been a significant decline in the proportion of nini young adults, to which the economic crisis of 2008 notably contributed.
The ninis drop and the number of young people with training beyond the mandatory levels rises and not only in Spain, but also in the rest of the European Union.
According to Eurostat, the percentage of young people with tertiary studies has risen by 1% between 2021 and 2022. Thus, last year 42% of the EU population between the ages of 25 and 34 had tertiary education.
And also, as in Spain, with significant gender differences. The percentage of women with tertiary education is 48% compared to 37% of men.
Almost half of the EU countries have already reached the target set for 2030. Leading the way are Ireland (62%), Luxembourg (61%), Cyprus (59%), Lithuania (58%), the Netherlands (56%), Sweden (52%), Spain and Belgium, with identical results.
By contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Romania (25%), Italy (29%) and Hungary (32%).
