Education in Albania by Gender and Age Groups 2018 – 2021

Girls and Women in Albania have a lower level of education than Boys or Men. The general trend of Education is reversed in favor of Women when it comes to university studies.

In 2020, we noticed that Women over the age of 25 are 54% educated only at the primary level or the first eight to nine years of education. A statistic that reflects the low level of education for this Gender Group. Men aged over 25 are at a more progressive level compared to women, with only 44% of them having primary and eight or nine years of education and the majority pursuying higher level of studies.

As far as secondary education is concerned, women are also in a more discriminated situation than men. Women over 25 years of age comprise only 27% of people with secondary education, whereas men of the same age group account for 40%.

The statistics are reversed when it comes to University Studies, here women are at the level where 19% of them have a university degree, among men this statistic is at the level of 17%. The difference is small and is also related to the phenomenon of emigration at student age, which in recent decades has affected boys more.

When it comes to illiteracy, the Albanian State last official data offered dates back to 2012, when the ratio stood at 3.9% for women at illiteracy level, as opposed to only 1.6% of men.

Table: Educational level of the population over 25 years old, categorized by gender, in 2020
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Observing this indicator by age group, we also understand how the trend of the phenomenon moves. When taking into the age groups is also taken into consideration, we find out that the elderly are the ones with the lowest level of education. About 75% of women over 65 have only primary and 8-9 years of education, compared to about 56% of men. Approximately 41% of women aged 25-39 still have primary and 8-9 years of education, compared to 35% of men.

Only 6% of women over 65 have a higher level of education. This indicator is 14% for men in the age group over 65 years old.

The 25-39 age group reverses this pattern, where 39% of women are highly educated, compared to only 26% of men in the same age group.

Table: Educational level by gender and age group in 2020
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The data for 2021 show that the number of graduates with a graduation certificate is 32,179 students in total. Among them, 17,007 are boys and the rest, 15,172 are girls. So, we have 1,835 more boys than girls, who’ve received a graduation certificate during 2021. The trend of graduates with a certificate is decreasing year after year and this is related to the shrinking population.

Boys make up 53% of graduates with a certificate, a figure that has been growing throughout the years under review.

Table: The percentage of students who graduated with a release certificate, by gender and graduation year
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

In 2021, there were 31,136 students who graduated from secondary education. Of these, 16,420 students, or 53%, are boys and the rest, 14,716 or 47%, are girls. Compared to 2018, we have a decrease of graduates in total by about 12%. The decreasing trend has been influenced by the decrease in the number of girl students rather than the number of boys.

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

When we also take a look into the graduation profiles in secondary education, it turns out that, again, the vast majority of young people choose to pursue midde school education, namely 85.3% of them. The rest, 12.3% of the graduated study on a vocational school and only 2.4% graduated from a socio-cultural school. The trend has remained the same throughout the years, with minor changes.

Regarding the Profile of Secondary Professional or Socio- Cultural Studies, we observe the most pronounced differences between the two genders. Girls are more oriented towards general high school education with 93% of cases, while boys are less so, with 77% preferring vocational studies.

Lastly, in 2021, only about 21% of the boys who completed secondary education, graduate in vocational schools, compared to only 5% of girls.

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

In total, regarding secondary education, girls make up 53% of graduates for 2021, compared to 47% of boys. The percentage of girls graduating in 2021 is the highest among the years under review. 

Table: Percentage of students who graduated based on education profile
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

University studies. In 2021, at bachelor study levels,- short cycle of higher education,- master’s and doctorate’s levels comined we have 32 690 graduates. This number is 5% less than in 2018, when the all three higher education levels accounted for 21,743 graduates in total. At the bachelor’s level, the decrease is significant mainly in the male gender group. Respectively, the number of male graduates decreased by 21% in 2021, compared to 2018 (from 7,596 to 5,990 male graduates). The number of female graduates decreased by 7%.

Table: Number of students graduating in higher education based on gender and cycle of study
Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Gender differences in the case of graduates in higher education are more pronounced than in cases of lower education levels. The majority of higher education graduates are girls, namely 66% of the total for 2021. Boys make up only 34% of higher education graduates for 2021. Approximately the same ratios between the two gender groups are maintained for bachelor, master study levels and doctorate and appear unchanged throughout the years under review. The difference is in the “short cycle of higher education” level of studies, where we have more boys than girls that have graduated.

Source: INSTAT
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Gender balance in education is an important factor when speaking of equality and balanced opportunities for these groups.

Open Data Albania has published data related to Reports and Gender Balance in the Gender Relations Topic category or Demography Topic.

Download excel: Education in Albania by Gender and Age Groups 2018 – 2021
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Contributed by: Ilir Brasha
Translated by: Rezarta Cushaj