Charting some of the changes in Ireland’s economic and social history to mark 50 years of Ireland in the EU.
Table 5.1 shows the total enrolments in educational establishments funded by the state from 1972-2017. A decline in the number of births during the 1980s is reflected in the fall in the number of enrolments at first level or primary school education between 1987-2000. The number of students in first level education has totalled more than half a million every year since 2009 and was 558,314 in the academic year 2016-2017.
The number of students enrolled in second level education has increased significantly since 1972. The number of full-time students rose almost every year until the mid-1990s reaching a high of 354,313 in 1994-1995 before declining in the late-1990s. From 2009 onwards the number of enrolments in secondary education rose strongly with 352,257 students in the academic year 2016-2017.
The biggest change has occurred in the numbers of people enrolled in third level education where the number of students grew by almost six-fold between 1972 and 2017. There were 181,039 persons in full-time third level education in 2016-2017, up 583% on the 1972-1973 academic year when 26,490 students attended college.
EU figures (2021) show that 42% of 30–34-year-olds in the EU-27 had a third level qualification. Ireland had the joint second highest third level educational attainment level at 62% along with Cyprus, and marginally behind Luxembourg at 63%.
Looking at the gender gap in third level attainment for 30–34-year-olds in the EU-27, the latest figures show that in every country, females have higher third level attainment levels. For the EU-27 average, the difference is 11 percentage points with 47% of females and 36% of males having a third level qualification.
Ireland has the fourth lowest difference between the sexes at only six percentage points, with 65% of females having third level attainment and 59% of males. Slovenia has the largest gap in the sexes at 25 percentage points, with females having a 63% third level attainment rate compared with males at 38% in Slovenia.
| Persons with a third level qualification as a % of persons aged 30 -34 | EU-27 | |
| Romania | 25 | 42 |
| Italy | 27 | 42 |
| Bulgaria | 33 | 42 |
| Croatia | 34 | 42 |
| Hungary | 36 | 42 |
| Czechia | 37 | 42 |
| Germany | 38 | 42 |
| Slovakia | 40 | 42 |
| Austria | 43 | 42 |
| Estonia | 43 | 42 |
| Malta | 44 | 42 |
| Portugal | 44 | 42 |
| Greece | 44 | 42 |
| Finland | 45 | 42 |
| Poland | 46 | 42 |
| Spain | 47 | 42 |
| Latvia | 48 | 42 |
| Slovenia | 49 | 42 |
| France | 50 | 42 |
| Belgium | 50 | 42 |
| Sweden | 52 | 42 |
| Denmark | 53 | 42 |
| Netherlands | 53 | 42 |
| Lithuania | 60 | 42 |
| Cyprus | 62 | 42 |
| Ireland | 62 | 42 |
| Luxembourg | 63 | 42 |
