The new data from the Population Census published today by the INE confirm that the educational gap between women and men does not stop growing. The latest statistics, corresponding to January 1, 2022, reveal that 32.2% of people over 15 years of age living in Spain have higher education (double of those who have only completed primary education or not even). But when differentiated by sex, the percentage is 33.6% in the case of women and 30% in the case of men (53.5% and 46%, respectively, among residents of Spanish nationality).
And if the focus is adjusted to the population that by age has had time to complete higher education (25-64 years), the gap increases: 45% of them have a university degree, compared to 37% of them. And it is even higher among the younger generations. Practically six out of ten women between 25 and 29 years old have higher education degrees, compared to four out of ten men of that age.
But sex is not the only variable that seems to correlate with educational level. There are also big differences depending on the origin of the citizens and their place of residence.
When the focus is on nationality, the percentage of foreigners with higher education rose to 23.5% while 29.2% had completed primary education or lower. These percentages are 26.1% and 23.7%, respectively, for those born abroad. And 33.4% and 14.4% in the case of Spaniards.
But among the foreign population living in Spain there are also big differences depending on their place of origin. Among residents born in Venezuela (50.2%), France (43.8%) and Argentina (42.3%) there is the highest percentage of university graduates. On the other hand, among those born in Morocco (8.7%), Romania (12.8%) and the Dominican Republic (15.9%), there are fewer citizens with higher education.
Regarding place of residence, the provinces that concentrated the most population with higher education in 2022 were Gipuzkoa (43%), Bizkaia (41.7%) and Madrid (41.1%). And five of the six Spanish municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants with the highest percentage of people with higher education were from Madrid: Tres Cantos (63.2%), Las Rozas (63%), Boadilla (61.5%), Torrelodones ( 61.3%) and Pozuelo (61%). The other, Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona), with 62.5%.
At the other extreme, with less than 10% of the population with a university degree, were Rojales (Alicante) and Níjar (Almería).
The INE has also completed the 2022 Population Census with employment data, from which it appears that the number of employed people increased across the board compared to a year before. The nationalities with the highest proportion of employed people among the population aged 16 and over were Chinese (61.4%), Ecuadorian (59.7%) and Bolivian (55.5%). On the contrary, the British (23.0%), Colombians (33.6%) and Peruvians (37.0%) had the lowest percentages.
