According to the latest Eurostat data, Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks last in Europe in terms of the rate of highly educated residents, with only 16 percent of the adult population having a university degree.
This is significantly lower compared to the European average and highlights the challenges the country faces in the education sector.
At the top of the list of the most educated European countries are Ireland and Sweden. In Ireland, 51 percent of the population has a university degree, while in Sweden, that percentage is 47 percent. Of the neighboring countries, Slovenia has 31 percent of the highly educated, Croatia 27 percent, and Serbia 25 percent.
Differences in education systems and the duration of compulsory education also play an important role in these statistics. Most European countries require compulsory education lasting between 10 and 12 years, but there are exceptions. For example, France has the longest compulsory education, lasting 15 years. Children in France start school at the age of three and finish at the age of 18.
On the other hand, in Belgium, Hungary, Romania and five German states, compulsory schooling lasts at least 13 years. In contrast, compulsory education in Poland, Slovenia and Estonia lasts 9 years, while in Croatia children attend compulsory school for only 8 years, Klix.ba writes.