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'Education at a glance 2025'

OECD: in Italy only 21% of students obtain a Stem degree

Drop-outs after the first year are 13%. Education expenditure still too low. Denatality weighs.

by Eugenio Bruno and Claudio Tucci

4' min read

Key points

4' min read

While it is true that a university degree, in Italy, is above all a 'family affair', much more so than abroad, it is equally true that there are still too few university graduates in Italy, and above all too few in the sectors that are most attractive in the world of work, i.e. the 'Stem' sectors.

The OECD study

The annual OECD report, 'Education at a Glance 2025', which this year places a little more emphasis on university education, while also analysing the other areas of the 'school planet', reminds us of some of our historical delays.

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We have few graduates (especially Stem)

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First of all, there are few university graduates in Italy: according to the latest available data, they make up 22% of 25-64 year-olds compared to the OECD average of 42%, putting Italy in last place, together with Mexico, among the 38 industrialised countries (Canada in first place with 65%). In the 25-34 age bracket, the percentage of university graduates in Italy rises to 32%, with a clear prevalence of women (38%) compared to men (25%), but it remains below the OECD average (48%), although these numbers are on the rise compared to the overall 28% in 2019. Stem graduates are few in number: just 21% of university students obtain a bachelor's degree in science and technology, 20% in economics, administration or law. While 36% graduate in the arts and humanities, social sciences, journalism and information. On the other hand, those with an upper secondary school diploma are above average at 44% compared to 40% OECD.

Graduation is a 'family affair'

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In Italy, heredity is more pronounced than average. In the Peninsula, 63% of 25-34 year-olds with at least one parent with a tertiary education have themselves obtained a tertiary qualification, compared with 15% of young people whose parents have not completed upper secondary education. The gap of 48 percentage points is greater than the average OECD gap of 44 points and illustrates the difficulties of our education system in becoming a 'social lift' again. In Italy, the percentage of enrolled students on three-year degree courses who drop out after the first year is identical to the OECD average of 13%. On the other hand, the number of young adults without a higher education qualification has decreased in the Peninsula, from 24% in 2019 to 19% in 2024, which is still higher than the OECD average of 13%.

Low skills

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The report also elaborates on the results of the Piacc adult skills study, according to which 37% of 25-64 year-olds in Italy have text comprehension and writing (literacy) skills at elementary level or below (level 1 on a scale from zero to 5, in fact the so-called 'functional illiteracy'), against the OECD average of 27%.

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Still low education expenditure

Another sore point is that of education expenditure, which particularly concerns the tertiary sector. On average, Italy spends $12,666 per student from primary school to post- secondary non-tertiary education and this is within the average of the OECD range, which goes from a minimum of $2,000 (Peru) to over $27,000 (Luxembourg). In the case of tertiary education, which also includes research, the average expenditure falls to $8,992 per student against the OECD average of $15,102. In Italy, investment in education, from primary school to university, amounts to 3.9 per cent of GDP, which is below the OECD average of 4.7 per cent, and it is largely the university that bears the brunt of the gap. Even though average spending per student rose from $11,731 to $12,493 between 2015 and 2022, the share allocated to education in the Peninsula fell from 7.1% to 6.7% of public budgets over this period compared to the drop from 10.9% to 10.1% OECD average.

The teachers' salary issue

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The OECD also highlights the (usual) issue of teachers' salaries. In Italy, actual salaries of primary school teachers are 33% lower than those of full-time workers over one year with a tertiary qualification, compared to an average of 17% lower in the OECD area. Since 2015, actual average salaries of primary school teachers have increased in real terms by 14.6% on average in all OECD countries. In 2024, they decreased by 4.4% in Italy. However, as the OECD also points out, "raising teacher salaries can be financially complex as personnel costs constitute the largest share of education expenditure".

Lesson hours and holidays

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The number of hours of compulsory education should also be mentioned. In Italy, students receive 917 hours of compulsory education per year at primary level and 990 hours at lower secondary level. This is higher than the OECD average of 804 hours in primary school and 909 hours in secondary school. In Italy, school holidays in primary education last 13.8 weeks per year (considering all holiday days) compared to 13.5 weeks in the OECD area.

The drop in students per class

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In the OECD area, the average class size in primary schools has remained unchanged since 2013 with 20.6 students. In Italy in 2023 class sizes averaged 17.9 students, down by 1.4. Here the bitter fruit of denatality weighs heavily: between 2013 and 2023, Italy recorded a 25 per cent drop in the number of children between the ages of 0 and 4 and a further 3 per cent drop is estimated between 2023 and 2033.

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