Education Measuring Ireland's Progress 2019

Ireland: Real current public expenditure on education

Table 4.1 Ireland: Real current public expenditure on education, 2007-2016¹
€ per student at constant 2015 prices				€m at 2015 prices
Year	Level			Real Current Public Expenditure
Year	Primary	Second¹	Third	Real Current Public Expenditure
2007	6,064	8,820	10,806	7,644
2008	6,753	9,774	11,676	7,878
2009	6,992	9,852	11,052	8,153
2010	6,338	8,794	9,778	8,105
2011	6,418	8,860	9,223	8,017
2012	6,417	8,939	8,721	7,823
2013	6,326	8,320	8,194	7,804
2014	6,005	8,115	7,591	7,827
2015	6,295	8,257	7,576	8,019
2016	6,206	8,166	7,089	8,035
Source: Department of Education and Skills, CSO
¹ Second level includes further education, e.g. post-Leaving Certificate programmes

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2018 Table 4.1 (XLS 11KB)

Between 2007 and 2009, Ireland's real current public expenditure on education (at constant prices) increased from €7.6bn to €8.2bn. It then decreased to €7.8bn in 2013, before increasing again to €8.0bn in 2016. Overall, between 2007 and 2016, real current public expenditure increased by 5.1%.
Ireland's current expenditure on primary education increased by 2.3% between 2007 and 2016, from €6,064 per student to €6,206 per student.
At secondary level, real expenditure per student decreased by 7.4% between 2007 and 2016, from €8,820 per student in 2007 to €8,166 per student in 2016.
Over the same period, real expenditure per student at third level education decreased from €10,806 in 2007 to €7,089 in 2016, a drop of 34.4%.

Year	Primary	Secondary	Third Level
2006	5471	7331	10054
2007	6064	8820	10806
2008	6753	9774	11676
2009	6992	9852	11052
2010	6338	8794	9778
2011	6418	8860	9223
2012	6417	8939	8721
2013	6326	8320	8194
2014	6005	8115	7591
2015	6295	8257	7576
2016	6206	8166	7089

Ireland: Number of students by level

Table 4.2 Ireland: Number of students by level, 2010-2020^1,2,3
Year	Primary Level	Secondary Level	Third Level
2010	505,998	350,687	189,779
2011	509,652	356,107	194,269
2012	516,458	359,047	196,846
2013	526,422	362,847	200,641
2014	536,317	367,178	205,407
2015	544,696	372,296	210,624
2016	553,380	378,003	219,482
2017	558,314	384,237	220,664
2018	563,459	388,281	223,743
2019	567,772	392,267	228,503
2020	567,716	395,611	235,697
Source: Department of Education and Skills, Higher Education Authority, CSO
¹Year refers to the year at the end of the academic year, i.e. 2010 is the school year 2009/2010.
² Only students in institutions aided by the Department of Education and Skills are included.
³Second level includes further education, e.g. post-Leaving Certificate programmes.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2019 Table 4.2 (XLS 11KB)

In 2020 primary school enrolment increased by 12.2% (or 61,718 students) compared with 2010, rising from 505,998 to 567,716.
Over the same time period, secondary school enrolment increased by 12.8%.

The number of third level students increased by nearly a quarter (24.2%) in 2020 compared with 2010.

Year	Primary Level	Secondary Level	Third Level
2010	505998	350687	189779
2011	509652	356107	194269
2012	516458	359047	196846
2013	526422	362847	200641
2014	536317	367178	205407
2015	544696	372296	210624
2016	553380	378003	219482
2017	558314	384237	220664
2018	563459	388281	223743
2019	567772	392267	228503
2020	567716	395611	235697

By country: Ratio of students to teachers

Table 4.3 By country: Ratio of students to teachers, 2018^1,2
Country	Primary	Lower Secondary	Upper Secondary
Luxembourg	9.0	10.7	8.6
Greece	9.2	7.9	9.4
Poland	9.6	11.4	9.6
Hungary	10.2	11.0	11.9
Slovenia	10.3	:	13.7
Lithuania	11.2	7.6	8.0
Italy	11.5	11.0	10.4
Austria	11.5	8.5	10.1
Denmark	11.9	10.9	11.7
Latvia	12.0	8.6	10.7
Portugal	12.4	9.4	9.0
Cyprus	12.6	9.6	8.6
Belgium	12.8	8.9	9.6
Estonia	13.1	10.1	15.7
Malta	13.3	6.7	7.5
EU27	13.6	12.0	11.3
Spain	13.6	11.9	10.5
Finland	13.6	8.9	18.9
Sweden	13.6	11.1	13.6
Bulgaria	13.7	11.4	13.0
Croatia	13.7	8.5	8.1
Ireland	15.2	:	13.0
Germany	15.3	13.0	12.6
Netherlands	16.4	16.1	17.6
Slovakia	17.5	12.5	13.5
Czech Republic	19.2	12.4	11.4
France	19.2	14.4	11.4
Romania	19.5	11.5	13.6

United Kingdom	19.9	15.8	18.0


EFTA Countries:
Norway	10.1	8.9	10.2
Liechtenstein	10.5	7.3	11.4
Iceland	11.0	10.1	:

EU Candidate Countries:
Macedonia	15.0	8.5	10.3
Serbia	15.1	10.4	10.1
Turkey	17.2	15.9	12.3
Montenegro	:	14.0	14.4
Source: Eurostat, Department of Education and Skills
¹Data for Ireland from the Department of Education and Skills. For Ireland, data for Upper Secondary (ISCED Level 3) includes data for both ISCED Level 2 and ISCED Level 3.
²Sorted by "Primary", ascending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2019 Table 4.3 (XLS 10KB)

Ireland had a student to teacher ratio of 15.2 for primary level education in 2018. This was the sixth highest ratio in the EU27 and was above the EU27 average of 13.6.
The lowest student to teacher ratio for primary education in the EU27 in 2018 was in Luxembourg at 9.0, and the highest was in Romania at 19.5.
For secondary level, Ireland had a student to teacher ratio of 13.0 in 2018. The EU27 average for upper secondary was 11.3.
In 2018, Malta had the lowest student to teacher ratio in upper secondary at 7.5, and Finland had the highest at 18.9. For lower secondary, Malta also had the lowest at 6.7, and the Netherlands had the highest at 16.1.

By country: Persons aged 25-34 with third level education by sex

Table 4.4 By country: Persons aged 25-34 with third level education by sex, 2019¹
% of population aged 25-34
Country	Total Persons	Males	Females	Differential
Cyprus	58.9	48.7	68.7	-20.0
Lithuania	55.2	45.4	65.8	-20.4
Luxembourg	53.2	48.4	58.2	-9.8
Ireland	53.1	49.4	56.7	-7.3
Sweden	48.5	41.1	56.4	-15.3
Netherlands	48.3	43.4	53.3	-9.9
Belgium	47.0	39.5	54.5	-15.0
France	46.7	42.0	51.2	-9.2
Spain	46.2	40.2	52.2	-12.0
Denmark	45.8	37.8	54.1	-16.3
Slovenia	43.3	34.0	53.8	-19.8
Greece	42.9	35.9	50.0	-14.1
Estonia	42.8	30.4	56.3	-25.9
Latvia	42.4	32.4	53.0	-20.6
Malta	42.2	36.4	48.6	-12.2
Finland	42.0	34.4	50.1	-15.7
Austria	40.9	36.6	45.5	-8.9
Slovakia	39.2	31.0	47.7	-16.7
Poland	39.1	30.6	47.9	-17.3
EU27	38.5	33.1	44.0	-10.9
Portugal	37.0	29.2	44.6	-15.4
Croatia	35.8	25.0	47.1	-22.1
Germany	32.4	31.2	33.5	-2.3
Czech Republic	32.3	25.8	39.1	-13.3
Bulgaria	32.2	25.9	39.0	-13.1
Hungary	30.0	24.3	36.1	-11.8
Italy	27.5	21.5	33.8	-12.3
Romania	25.4	22.0	29.2	-7.2
United Kingdom	48.9	45.4	52.4	-7.0
EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	51.8	51.2	52.5	-1.3
Norway	48.6	40.1	57.4	-17.3
Iceland	44.8	36.9	54.3	-17.4
EU Candidate Countries:
Montenegro	42.5	38.5	46.7	-8.2
Macedonia	35.6	30.7	40.7	-10.0
Turkey	33.3	32.7	33.9	-1.2
Serbia	33.1	26.1	40.4	-14.3
Source: Eurostat - Population and Social Conditions
¹Sorted by "Total Persons", descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2019 Table 4.4 (XLS 12KB)

More than half (53.1%) of persons aged 25-34 in Ireland had a third level qualification in 2019, above the EU27 average of 38.5%, and the fourth highest rate in the EU27.

Females were more likely to have a third level education compared to males in all EU countries in 2019, with Estonia having the highest percentage points differential of 25.9.

In Ireland, 49.4% of men aged 25-34 had a third level qualification, compared to 56.7% of women.

Ireland had the third lowest percentage gender differential between men and women with third level education at 7.3 while Germany had the lowest gender differential at 2.3.

Year	EU27	Ireland
2009	30.9	46.5
2010	31.4	46.8
2011	32.3	46.2
2012	33.3	48.1
2013	34.3	49.6
2014	35.1	50.3
2015	35.7	50.9
2016	36.1	51.3
2017	36.9	51.9
2018	37.8	53.7
2019	38.5	53.1

By country: Student performance on the mathematics, reading, and science literacy scales

Table 4.5 By country: Student performance on the mathematical, reading and scientific literacy scales, 2018^1,2
Mean score of 15 year old students
Country	Mathematics	Reading	Science
Estonia	523.4	523.0	530.1
Netherlands	519.2	484.8	503.4
Poland	515.6	511.9	511.0
Denmark	509.4	501.1	492.6
Slovenia	508.9	495.3	507.0
Belgium	508.1	492.9	498.8
Finland	507.3	520.1	521.9
Sweden	502.4	505.8	499.4
Germany	500.0	498.3	503.0
Ireland	499.6	518.1	496.1
Czech Republic	499.5	490.2	496.8
Austria	498.9	484.4	489.8
Latvia	496.1	478.7	487.3
France	495.4	492.6	493.0
Portugal	492.5	491.8	491.7
OECD Average	489.3	487.1	488.7
Italy	486.6	476.3	468.0
Slovak Republic	486.2	458.0	464.0
Luxembourg	483.4	470.0	476.8
Spain	481.4	:	483.3
Lithuania	481.2	475.9	482.1
Hungary	481.1	476.0	480.9
Greece	451.4	457.4	451.6

United Kingdom	501.8	503.9	504.7
EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	515.3	483.9	495.3
Norway	501.0	499.5	490.4
Iceland	495.2	474.0	475.0
EU Candidate Countries:
Turkey	453.5	465.6	468.3
¹Data sourced from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an
international triennial test given to 15 year - olds (see Appendix 1).
² Sorted by "Mathematics", descending.
: indicates data unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2019 Table 4.5 (XLS 12KB)

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam is held every three years, with the most recent occurring in 2018. The exam is scored on a scale of 0 to 1,000.
The average score of 15 year-olds in Ireland on the mathematical literacy scale was 499.6, the tenth highest in the EU27 and above the OECD average score of 489.3. Estonia had the highest score in this category at 523.4.
In reading literacy, Ireland had a score of 518.1 points, the third highest in the EU27. Estonia had the highest reading literacy score at 523.
The average score for scientific literacy in Ireland was 496.1, the tenth highest in the EU27 and above the OECD average of 488.7. The three EU27 countries with the highest scientific literacy scores were: Estonia (530.1), Finland (521.9), and Poland (511).

By country: Young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET rate)

Table 4.6 By country: Young persons aged 18-24 neither in employment nor in education and training by sex, 2019¹
% of population aged 18-24
Country	Total Persons	Males	Females	Gender Differential
Italy	23.2	23.0	23.3	-0.3
Cyprus	18.6	19.4	17.8	1.6
Romania	18.5	14.1	23.2	-9.1
Greece	17.9	18.1	17.7	0.4
Bulgaria	16.9	15.6	18.3	-2.7
Spain	15.7	16.0	15.3	0.7
Croatia	15.1	14.5	15.8	-1.3
France	14.4	14.8	14.0	0.8
Hungary	14.0	11.2	17.1	-5.9
EU27	13.2	12.7	13.8	-1.1
Ireland	12.4	12.5	12.2	0.3
Slovakia	12.4	10.5	14.5	-4.0
Belgium	11.6	12.9	10.3	2.6
Lithuania	11.4	12.7	9.9	2.8
Finland	11.3	11.8	10.7	1.1
Poland	11.1	9.3	13.1	-3.8
Portugal	11.1	10.2	12.0	-1.8
Latvia	10.8	12.0	9.4	2.6
Denmark	10.2	10.5	9.8	0.7
Austria	9.1	8.8	9.4	-0.6
Slovenia	9.1	7.7	10.6	-2.9
Estonia	9.0	8.2	9.8	-1.6
Luxembourg	8.3	8.4	8.1	0.3
Malta	7.8	7.3	8.4	-1.1
Germany	7.7	7.0	8.5	-1.5
Czech Republic	7.5	4.0	11.1	-7.1
Sweden	7.5	7.4	7.5	-0.1
Netherlands	5.5	5.9	5.0	0.9

United Kingdom	13.5	13.3	13.8	-0.5

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	7.3	9.3	5.2	4.1
Norway	6.4	6.4	6.5	-0.1
Iceland	5.6	7.1	3.9	3.2

EU Candidate Countries:
Turkey	32.9	22.7	43.3	-20.6
Macedonia	24.4	23.3	25.4	-2.1
Montenegro	22.1	24.3	19.8	4.5
Serbia	20.0	19.2	20.9	-1.7
Source: Eurostat, Population and Social Conditions
¹Sorted by "Total Persons", descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2019 Table 4.6 (XLS 12KB)

The NEET rate measures the proportion of young people aged 18-24 who are neither in employment nor in education and training.
In 2019, the NEET rate in Ireland was 12.4%, below the EU27 rate of 13.2%.
In the EU27, the Netherlands had the lowest NEET rate at 5.5%, while Italy had the highest at 23.2%.
Twelve countries in the EU27 had higher NEET rates for men. Of these, Lithuania had the highest gender differential at 2.8.
The remaining fifteen countries had higher NEET rates amongst women in 2019, with the largest occurring in Romania at 9.1.

By country: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates by sex

Table 4.7 By country: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics graduates by sex, 2018¹
Per 1,000 of population aged 20-29
Country	Total Persons	Males	Females	Differential
Ireland	35.2	47.3	23.0	24.3
France	26.6	36.5	16.8	19.7
Finland	23.8	33.7	13.4	20.3
Denmark	23.3	30.8	15.4	15.4
Austria	22.8	32.7	12.4	20.3
Spain	21.5	30.1	12.7	17.4
Poland	20.9	23.3	18.5	4.8
Slovenia	20.7	26.2	14.8	11.4
Portugal	20.5	25.5	15.4	10.1
Germany	20.1	27.8	11.8	16.0
Lithuania	19.9	26.3	13.0	13.3
EU27	19.6	25.6	13.4	12.2
Croatia	18.6	22.9	14.2	8.7
Greece	17.6	20.5	14.5	6.0
Czech Republic	16.5	20.6	12.3	8.3
Romania	15.9	17.7	13.9	3.8
Estonia	15.7	18.3	12.9	5.4
Italy	15.5	18.4	12.5	5.9
Sweden	14.9	18.6	11.0	7.6
Belgium	14.0	20.6	7.2	13.4
Slovakia	13.9	17.7	9.9	7.8
Latvia	13.8	18.4	8.9	9.5
Bulgaria	13.6	16.7	10.4	6.3
Netherlands	12.8	17.5	8.0	9.5
Hungary	12.2	16.2	7.8	8.4
Malta	12.0	15.6	8.0	7.6
Cyprus	10.0	12.8	7.2	5.6
Luxembourg	4.0	6.1	1.8	4.3
United Kingdom	25.2	29.9	20.2	9.7
EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	21.2	32.2	9.9	22.3
Norway	16.6	23.0	9.9	13.1
Iceland	15.2	18.2	11.9	6.3
Liechtenstein	7.0	5.6	8.6	-3.0
EU Candidate Countries:
Serbia	15.5	17.3	13.5	3.8
Turkey	13.0	17.0	8.7	8.3
Macedonia	7.7	7.9	7.5	0.4
Source: Eurostat - Population and Social Conditions
¹Sorted by "Total Persons", descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2019 Table 4.7 (XLS 12KB)

Ireland had the highest rate of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates in 2018, at 35.2 per 1,000 of persons aged 20-29.
Furthermore, Ireland also had the largest gender differential in the EU27 at 24.3, with 47.3 male STEM graduates per 1,000 persons aged 20-29 compared with 23.0 females.
Luxembourg had the lowest rate of STEM graduates in 2018 at 4.0 per 1,000 of persons aged 20-29.
In 2018, Romania had the lowest gender differential in the EU27 at 3.8, with 17.7 male STEM graduates per 1,000 persons aged 20-29 compared with 13.9 for female STEM graduates.

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2019

Education

Ireland: Real current public expenditure on education

Ireland: Number of students by level

By country: Ratio of students to teachers

By country: Persons aged 25-34 with third level education by sex

By country: Student performance on the mathematics, reading, and science literacy scales

By country: Young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET rate)

By country: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates by sex

Contents

Why you can Trust the CSO

Contact:

Links:

Careers

Follow: