The 15 most highly educated places in Europe

Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland Scamrail1/Shutterstock

Eurostat, Europe's statistical agency, has published detailed data on where the most educated places are in Europe.

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The EU's data agency looked at what percentage of the population in each region, county, and municipality in Europe obtained a "tertiary education" — which means they have a degree or higher education equivalent — for the ages 25-64.

The results were mixed.

No regions in France placed within the top 15 but Britain boasted a large collection of regions where over half the population received a degree or equivalent, making it part of the most highly educated regions in Europe.

The data is quite detailed, drilling down to specific regions. We've followed the Eurostat grouping of regions in the data, with original language names appearing in brackets where applicable.

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Eurostat uses NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) which is "a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the EU for the purpose of  socio-economic analyses of the regions." For this part of the data, Eurostat looked at NUTS 2 regions, which fall under the category of "basic regions for the application of regional policies."

Here's the map to show the detail:

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15. The Community of Madrid (Comunidad de Madrid) — 46.9%. The area is one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, with capital city Madrid at its heart.

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14. The Basque Country (Pais Vasco) — 47.8%. The autonomous community of northern Spain is another highly educated region. Bilbao is a hub of architecture and design.

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A surfer rides a wave during the Punta Galea Big Wave Challenge in Punta Galea, northern Spain. Reuters
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13. Hovedstaden, Denmark — 48.5%. The area is the eastern most administrative region of Denmark and consists of municipalities of such as the country's most populated city Copenhagen.

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12. Stockholm, Sweden —48.7%. The capital of Sweden is also the cultural, media, political, and economic centre.

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11. Zurich, Switzerland — 50.4%. It is perhaps unsurprising that Swiss city makes the list since it is a global centre for banking and finance.

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10. Eastern Scotland — 50.5%. The region is home to business hub Edinburgh and has one of the world's most prestigious universities.

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9. Helsinki (Helsinki-Uusimaa), Finland — 51.3%. The capital and largest city of Finland is in the region of Uusimaa, which boasts a highly educated population.

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8. Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire — 51.7%. The three counties are affluent commuter belts. Oxfordshire is also home to one of the world's most prestigious universities, Oxfordshire also has a large commuter population, which travel into London for work as well as in the local area.

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7. North eastern Scotland — 52.2%. Aberdeen, the third most populous city in Scotland, has a high ratio of highly educated professional workers, concentrated in the oil industry, as well as a lot of students at the university.

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6. Outer London west and north west—53.2%. The regions hold a number of affluent areas such as Richmond, which is home to a lot of high net worth individuals. It also features Harrow, which has the famous private school of the same name.

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5. Oslo and Akershus (Oslo og Akershus), Norway — 53.5%. Oslo is both a county and a municipality and is economic and governmental centre of Norway. Akershus borders it and has half a million inhabitants.

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4. Walloon Brabant, Belgium — 54.1%. This is one of the richest areas in the whole of Belgium.

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3. Outer London south — 55.2%. The London region counts Kingston upon Thames as a concentrated area of the highly educated, as well as Croydon and Sutton.

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2. Inner London east — 58.3% The area may have some significantly poor areas, such as parts of Tower Hamlets, but it is also home to Canary Wharf — a key financial district in London.

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A tug pulls a container barge down the River Thames in front of London's financial district of Canary Wharf in the early morning January 24, 2015. REUTERS/Russell Boyce
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1. Inner London west — 69.7%. The central London region counts Westminster and the richest borough of Kensington as key areas.

Lightning strikes near the Houses of Parliament, in London, as a summer storm passes over the capital.
The UK economy has taken a huge hit from the EU referendum. Lewis Whyld / PA Archive/Press Association Images
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