Lund, Lomma, Uppsala, Umeå and Linköping are the five municipalities outside of Stockholm County that have the highest share of highly educated persons.

The high level of education in the greater Stockholm area can be largely explained by a labour market with many workplaces in industries that have a large share of highly educated persons, such as the financial and insurance sectors, education, public sector administration and defence. Further, higher education is offered on a large scale and the population is relatively young, with a higher level of formal education than older persons.

In most counties the share of highly educated persons is significantly higher in the county seat and metropolitan areas compared to other municipalities in the county. With a few exceptions, the smaller municipalities have a larger share of persons with compulsory education as their highest level of education than the share of persons with post secondary education of 3 or more years.

Level of education among the Swedish born and the foreign born

Foreign born persons have a somewhat lower level of education than those who were born in Sweden. Among foreign born persons there is a higher percentage of those who only have compulsory education than among Swedish born persons (20% and 10% respectively).

The difference with regard to longer post secondary education is small; 42 percent of Swedish born persons aged 25–64 have post secondary education compared to 40 percent of foreign born persons. The percentage of highly educated persons with at least three years of post secondary education is equal among Swedish born and foreign born persons, 26 percent.

A larger share of women than men are highly educated, both among Swedish born and foreign-born persons. Foreign born women have compulsory education to a somewhat greater extent than foreign born men. The opposite applies to Swedish born persons, where it is more common that men have compulsory education.