Almost 30% of labour force has tertiary education
Cyprus has a comparatively high proportion of self-employed people, according to a new publication from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the “Statistical Yearbook of the EU Regions”.
The proportion of self-employed in Cyprus was 20.2% in 2003. The highest proportion of self-employed were in the regions of Greece, while France had the fewest.
In total, there were 56 EU regions where the share of the self-employed in total employment exceeded 20% in 2003: twenty regions in Italy, all thirteen regions in Greece, nine in Poland, six in Spain, five in Portugal, one each in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom, as well as Cyprus, which counts as one region.
The regions with the highest shares were all in Greece: Peloponnisos (44.6%), Ionia Nisia (42.3%), Voreio Aigaio (40.6%), Thessalia and Sterea Ellada (both 39.0%).
There were 59 EU regions having shares of the self-employed lower than 10%: twenty four in Germany, ten in the United Kingdom, nine in France, four in Sweden, three in Austria, two each in the Netherlands and Slovakia, as well as Denmark, Estonia, Luxembourg, Latvia and Slovenia.
The regions with the lowest shares were all in France: Haute Normandie (6.3%), Alsace and Lorraine (both 6.9%) and Ile-de France (7.0%).
The Statistical Yearbook of the EU Regions covers the 254 regions of the 25 EU Member States (Cyprus counts as one). The publication also covers the 14 regions of Bulgaria and Romania.
This year, the publication includes chapters on population, agriculture, GDP, household accounts, labour market, transport, science, technology and innovation, business, health, urban statistics, education and tourism. Efforts have been made to focus on aspects not recently covered.
Educational attainment levels
In Cyprus 29.1% of those aged between 25 and 64 had tertiary education.
Inner London was the highest, were almost one inhabitant in two had attained a tertiary level education in 2002. Brabant Wallon in Belgium followed with a share of 41.6%.
The regions of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire (37.4%), Outer London (37.0%), North Eastern Scotland (36.4%) and Eastern Scotland (35.2%) and Surrey, East & West Sussex (35.5%) in the United Kingdom, Bruxelles/Brussels (37.3%) in Belgium, Etelä-Suomi (35.9%) in Finland, Stockholm (35.1%) in Sweden and Ile-de France (35.0%) in France all had shares of above or equal to 35%.
Madeira in Portugal had the lowest attainment level in tertiary education with a share of 5.1%, followed by Açores (5.2%), Algarve (6.8%), Norte (7.2%) and Centro (7.9%) in Portugal, Severozapad (7.2%) in the Czech Republic, Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste (7.7%) and Bolzano/Bozen (7.8%) in Italy and Sterea Ellada (7.8%) in Greece.
