They are also the fourth most-educated in the entire world.
A major new international study has revealed that young people in Ireland are the most educated in all of Europe.
The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that 56% of 25 to 34 year olds in Ireland have received higher or further education.
The average OECD in that field is 44%.
It marks Ireland's young people as having the highest score in Europe, and the fourth highest in the entire world, behind only Korea (the report doesn't specify North, South, or a combination of the two), the Russian Federation, and Canada.
It also revealed that those in Ireland with a bachelor's degree earn, on average, 81% more than those who only completed their secondary school education. This is much higher than the average found in the report, which was found to be just 44%.
However, the report did state that Ireland spend a much smaller portion of our GDP on investment in education, with 3.5% spent on secondary and third-level education in 2016, compared to that year's OECD average of 5%.
Additionally, class sizes in Ireland (on average: 25) are larger than the median found in the OECP report (on average: 21), while teachers in Ireland are found to be on a slightly higher starting wage (Irish average: €33,134, 2% higher than OECD average), but they also work slightly longer hours than the averages found elsewhere.
The full "at a glance" report can be found
here.
