According to statistics published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, Malta had the second lowest number of 20-65 year olds with tertiary education attainment in 2017, with 20.7 per cent of the population attaining such level.

The lowest percentage was Italy, with only 17.8 per cent of the population achieving tertiary education. The highest percentage of the population with a tertiary education was the UK, with 40 per cent.

Eurostat published other statistics, including the recorded diaspora of Maltese in other European countries. In all 3.6% of the Maltese population aged 20-64 are living in another European country, based on data in years of 2012-2017.

The recorded diaspora of Maltese nationals across Europe is approximately the same as the EU average, with 3.8% of European Union (EU) citizens of working age (20-64) residing in another Member State than that of their citizenship in 2017. The numbers of people working abroad varied within each Member State, ranging from 1 per cent for working age citizens of Germany to 19.7% for citizens of Romania.

The next largest shares were recorded by Lithuania (15.0%), Croatia (14.0%), Portugal (13.9%), Latvia (12.9%) and Bulgaria (12.5%).

In terms of employment rate, persons aged 20-64 in 2017, 71.4 per cent of the population is in employment in Malta comparable to most other EU countries.

Tertiary graduates are generally more mobile than the rest of the population. 32.4% of mobile EU citizens have tertiary education, while the share for the entire EU population is 30.1%. The employment rate of mobile EU citizens is also higher than that of the entire population: 76.1%, compared with the total EU employment rate of 72.1%.