In an impressive increase from years past, 39 percent of women in the United States had completed four years or more of college in 2022. This figure is up from 3.8 percent of women in 1940. A significant increase can also be seen in males, with 36.2 percent of the U.S. male population having completed four years or more of college in 2022, up from 5.5 percent in 1940.
4- and 2-year colleges
In the United States, college students are able to choose between attending a 2-year postsecondary program and a 4-year postsecondary program. Generally, attending a 2-year program results in an Associate’s Degree, and 4-year programs result in a Bachelor’s Degree.
Many 2-year programs are designed so that attendees can transfer to a college or university offering a 4-year program upon completing their Associate’s. Completion of a 4-year program is the generally accepted standard for entry-level positions when looking for a job.
Earnings after college
Factors such as gender, degree achieved, and the level of postsecondary education can have an impact on employment and earnings later in life. Some Bachelor’s degrees continue to attract more male students than female, particularly in STEM fields, while liberal arts degrees such as education, languages and literatures, and communication tend to see higher female attendance.
All of these factors have an impact on earnings after college, and despite nearly the same rate of attendance within the American population between males and females, men with a Bachelor’s Degree continue to have higher weekly earnings on average than their female counterparts.
Around 5.39 million higher education students in Mexico were enrolled for the 2023/2024 academic year. The number of female students exceeded that of male by 420,000 students.
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This section presents statistical information on the educational variables collected in the Labor Force Survey of the National Institute of Statistics, as well as in the Community Labor Force Survey of Eurostat. The indicators of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (2021-2030) derived from these sources are highlighted. The information is presented disaggregated by autonomous community and by European Union country, according to the source used, and with temporal evolutions since 2002. The results are obtained as annual averages of quarterly data, so the information is updated annually, as the four quarters of the LFS are available, as well as the results derived from the Eurostat community survey. From the 2014 results of the LFS, the new National Classification of Education, CNED-2014, based on the International Standard Classification of Education, ISCED-2011, applied in the LFS, is applied; and from 2016, the update of the sectors/fields of study of both classifications (CNED-F and ISCED-F) is applied. These changes in the classifications involve a break in series for some of the tables, as indicated in the accompanying notes. Publication date: February 7, 2025 (Click on the links to access the EDUCAbase Information System).
In the academic year 2024, the enrollment rate in universities and junior colleges reached around **** percent for male students and **** percent for female students in Japan. The share of young women attending higher education institutions increased more than ******* in the past 60 years. The overall direct enrollment rate after high school graduation was ** percent.
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Graph and download economic data for Civilian Labor Force - College Graduates - Master's Degree, 16 years and over, Women (CGMDLW16O) from Jan 2000 to Aug 2025 about master's degree, females, tertiary schooling, civilian, education, labor force, 16 years +, labor, household survey, and USA.
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Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Master's Degree, 25 years and over, Women (CGMD25OW) from Jan 2000 to Aug 2025 about master's degree, 25 years +, tertiary schooling, females, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.
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Progression to HE by Gender
- Explore Education Statistics data set Gender from Widening participation in higher educationAttribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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United Kingdom UK: Gender Parity Index (GPI): Tertiary School Enrollment: Gross data was reported at 1.337 Ratio in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.323 Ratio for 2014. United Kingdom UK: Gender Parity Index (GPI): Tertiary School Enrollment: Gross data is updated yearly, averaging 1.012 Ratio from Dec 1971 (Median) to 2015, with 45 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.406 Ratio in 2006 and a record low of 0.509 Ratio in 1971. United Kingdom UK: Gender Parity Index (GPI): Tertiary School Enrollment: Gross data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Education Statistics. Gender parity index for gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education is the ratio of women to men enrolled at tertiary level in public and private schools.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; Weighted average; Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).
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Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Bachelor's Degree, 20 to 24 years, Women (CGBD2024W) from Jan 2000 to Aug 2025 about 20 to 24 years, tertiary schooling, females, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.
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Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Level: College Graduates: Advanced Degree: Master's Degree and Higher, 45 to 54 years, Women (CGADUW4554) from Dec 2014 to Aug 2025 about 45 to 54 years, master's degree, females, tertiary schooling, education, household survey, unemployment, and USA.
In Sweden, the number of female registered students in higher education was far higher than the registered male students. In 2022, there were registered over 225,000 female students, compared to less than 150,000 male students. The number of both genders remained relatively stable throughout the last decade, but increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, a total of 386,012 students were registered at higher education institutions in Sweden. Women in higher education The enrollment of women in higher education in Sweden follows a global trend. In each OECD country, women complete Bachelor’s degrees at higher rates than men. Moreover, there are female-dominated fields of study in higher education. Generally, social sciences and care study programs have a higher proportion of women than men. This can be seen in countries such as Australia, where nearly 75 percent of all new health students are women, compared to 25 percent within the fields of science, technology engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Female representation and equality in Sweden While women in Sweden have a small gender pay gap compared to men, with the average woman earning roughly 27,100 Swedish kronor and the average man earning nearly 30,800 Swedish kronor monthly, Sweden ranks well in terms of gender equality. Furthermore, almost half of Swedish parliament is composed of women, one of the highest shares of female MPs globally. Nevertheless, Swedish women still cite issues such as domestic violence as significant concerns.
This dataset contains the total first-year retention rates and counts (Fall to Fall) for new first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students, disaggregated by gender. It covers all public community colleges and state universities in Massachusetts, and the University of Massachusetts since 2013.
This dataset is 1 of 3 datasets that is also published in the interactive Retention of First-Time, Full-Time Students dashboard on the Department of Higher Education Data Center:
Public Postsecondary First Year Retention: Summary Public Postsecondary First Year Retention by Race Public Postsecondary First Year Retention by Gender
Definitions: - Retention is characterized when a new first-time, full-time student who was enrolled in their first Fall semester is again enrolled in their second Fall semester. - Adjusted Cohort Count: the number of first-year students in a cohort, excluding those who graduated within the first year. - Retained Any Institution is determined by finding students enrolled in the next Fall at other MA Public Institutions using Massachusetts Department of Higher Education data or elsewhere using NSC data. - Cohort identification: These are the Fall Term Credit Students, identified with a cohort when their current registration = New; their New Student Type = Degree-seeking; and enrollment is full-time with >= 12 credits.
Notes: - To comply with data privacy laws, Bucketing is used as a form of data suppression. If a gender category has <= 6 students, then its data is combined with the next largest gender category and the gender is labeled as "Other." - Data appear as reported to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.
The proportion of male and female postsecondary graduates, by Classification of Instructional Programs, Primary groupings (CIP_PG), International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) and age group.
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HE participation (CHEP-25, CHEP-20, CHEP-30) by gender
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Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Master's Degree, 25 to 64 years, Women (CGMD2564W) from Jan 2000 to Aug 2025 about 25 to 64 years, master's degree, tertiary schooling, females, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, 88 percent of females worldwide had primary education, compared to 91 percent of males. By comparison, more females than males had attained tertiary education. The Global Gender Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education, and health-based criteria. In 2020, the leading country was Iceland with a score of 0.87.
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Higher education councils: Federal states, years, type of university, gender
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Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - College Graduates - Master's Degree, 16 years and over, Women (CGMD16OW) from Jan 2000 to Aug 2025 about master's degree, tertiary schooling, females, education, 16 years +, unemployment, rate, and USA.
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Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - Bachelor's Degree and Higher, 25 Yrs. & over, Women (LNU04027682) from Jan 1992 to Aug 2025 about 25 years +, tertiary schooling, females, education, unemployment, rate, and USA.
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Egypt EG: Gender Parity Index (GPI): Tertiary School Enrollment: Gross data was reported at 1.024 Ratio in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.962 Ratio for 2015. Egypt EG: Gender Parity Index (GPI): Tertiary School Enrollment: Gross data is updated yearly, averaging 0.517 Ratio from Dec 1971 (Median) to 2016, with 37 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.024 Ratio in 2016 and a record low of 0.392 Ratio in 1971. Egypt EG: Gender Parity Index (GPI): Tertiary School Enrollment: Gross data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Egypt – Table EG.World Bank: Education Statistics. Gender parity index for gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education is the ratio of women to men enrolled at tertiary level in public and private schools.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; Weighted average; Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).
In an impressive increase from years past, 39 percent of women in the United States had completed four years or more of college in 2022. This figure is up from 3.8 percent of women in 1940. A significant increase can also be seen in males, with 36.2 percent of the U.S. male population having completed four years or more of college in 2022, up from 5.5 percent in 1940.
4- and 2-year colleges
In the United States, college students are able to choose between attending a 2-year postsecondary program and a 4-year postsecondary program. Generally, attending a 2-year program results in an Associate’s Degree, and 4-year programs result in a Bachelor’s Degree.
Many 2-year programs are designed so that attendees can transfer to a college or university offering a 4-year program upon completing their Associate’s. Completion of a 4-year program is the generally accepted standard for entry-level positions when looking for a job.
Earnings after college
Factors such as gender, degree achieved, and the level of postsecondary education can have an impact on employment and earnings later in life. Some Bachelor’s degrees continue to attract more male students than female, particularly in STEM fields, while liberal arts degrees such as education, languages and literatures, and communication tend to see higher female attendance.
All of these factors have an impact on earnings after college, and despite nearly the same rate of attendance within the American population between males and females, men with a Bachelor’s Degree continue to have higher weekly earnings on average than their female counterparts.