Education: Fewer high school graduates again

Last year, around 373,000 young people graduated from high school or obtained a university of applied sciences entrance qualification. That was 6,500 or 1.7 percent fewer than in 2023, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday in Wiesbaden. This means that the number of people eligible to study has fallen for the third year in a row. Around four out of five people eligible to study (81 percent) graduated from high school, the remaining 19 percent from vocational high school. For three federal states, the statistics office recorded a development against the national trend: There was an increasing number of people eligible to study in Bremen (plus 1.8 percent), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (plus 0.4 percent) and Hesse (plus 0.2 percent).

The number of school leavers with a high school diploma or university entrance qualification fell particularly sharply in the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. In all three states, the number of people eligible to study fell by almost four percent within a year. Rhineland-Palatinate also recorded a significant decline of 3.4 percent, while the decrease was small in Brandenburg (minus 0.1 percent) and Lower Saxony (minus 0.3 percent).

The proportion of women among all those eligible to study remained constant at 54 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. Among those eligible to study with a general or subject-specific higher education entrance qualification, the proportion of women was slightly higher at 55 percent, while for those obtaining a university of applied sciences entrance qualification, the gender ratio was almost balanced at 51 percent women and 49 percent men.

According to the information, the number of people in the relevant age group of 17 to 19 year olds increased by 1.9 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. However, the fact that the age cohort has become larger is due to immigration from abroad, especially from Ukraine.