Educational levels are going up

Women aged 25-34 have the highest qualifications of all population groups in Greece

By Manolis G. Drettakis (1)

This article is based on the 2001 census and compares the educational level of people born from 1952 to 1976 (the 29-49 age group) and those born before 1952 (50-and-over age group), in 13 administration regions and the whole of Greece, according to sex. Given that, as demonstrated in an earlier article, migrants' educational level is comparable to that of Greeks, this article will look at the total population (Greeks and foreigners together).

Table 1 gives the average educational level for the 13 regions and all Greece by sex for the 25-49 age group (in the first part) and the 50-plus age group (in the second part). The last column in Table 1 gives the difference between the educational levels of women and men.

Comparison of parts 1 and 2 of Table 1 indicates considerable progress in the educational level of the first postwar generation in comparison with earlier generations, both in the 13 regions and throughout the country. In the regions, the greatest progress was:

- among both men and women in Epirus, Thessaly and Central Greece;

- among men in Western Macedonia, Eastern Macedonia, Thrace and Thessaly; and

- among women in Epirus, Thessaly and Central Greece.

The least progress was in Attica, among men and women together and separately.

One of the reasons for the above differences is the educational level of the older generations (where the level was high, as in Attica, the percentage of progress is small, but where it was low, as in Epirus, great advances were recorded).

Parts 1 and 2 of Table 1 also show that:

- The highest educational level in both age groups is in Attica and Central Macedonia. The higher educational level in Attica (and to a certain extent in Central Macedonia) is due, among other factors, to the tertiary education institutes located in those regions, as well as to the public services and private companies based there that employ staff with a high educational level.

- The lowest educational level in the 50-plus age group among both men and women was in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus and Thessaly; among men in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Western Macedonia and Thessaly; and among women in Epirus, Thessaly and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.

For those aged 25 to 49, the lowest educational level is to be found among men and women in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Western Greece and the Ionian Islands; among men in Western Greece, the Ionian Islands and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace; and among women in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Western Greece, and Western Macedonia. The chief reason for the low educational level in those regions is the composition of the population.

Both in the 13 administrative regions and in the entire country, progress among women aged 25-49 is far greater than that of men. This progress - apart from differences in the educational level of men and women in earlier generations - can be attributed to girls' greater diligence.

Comparing the last column in the first and second parts of Table 1 shows that the greater progress of women has drastically reduced the difference in the educational level of men and women. In all of Greece the level is almost equal, and in four regions (Crete, the Ionian Islands, Western Greece and the Peloponnese) the educational level of women aged 25-49 is higher than that of men, and in all the other regions the difference is half a year (in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace) or less than half a year.

Apart from the abovementioned progress in educational level, the continuing differences in that level among the 13 regions are far smaller among the 25-49 age group than in the 50-plus age group.

Within the 25-49 age group, however, there are significant differences. In all Greece, the differences between the sexes appear clearly in the five age groups in Table 2.

The first three columns in Table 2 show that the younger the men and women, both together and apart, the higher their educational level. This applies even more to women, so that in the two youngest age groups (25-29 and 30-34) the women's educational level is higher than that of men.

Major inequalities continue to exist between the two sexes in other areas of life in Greece. Those in power must evaluate developments in women's educational level and accord them what they deserve: Full parity with men.

(1) Manolis Drettakis is a former deputy speaker of Parliament, minister, and professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business.