Poland on the way to SDGs. Report 2025

Today, well-developed digital skills ensure not only a convenient use of online services, but also active participation in social and professional life. According to the digital skills index, 63% of Poles aged 16–24 have basic or above-basic skills in this area, which is less than in 2021 (69%)¹. This percentage is also below the EU average, where approximately 70% of young people declare digital competences at this level. Poland is among the EU countries with the lowest number of young people having at least basic digital skills (32%), and at the same time the highest percentage of young people display a low level of these competences, i.e. 27% in 2023 (compared to 22% in 2021). As in the whole of the EU, a small group of people have narrow (less than 7%) or limited digital skills (over 2%)².

Polish youth perform best in four of the five surveyed digital competences: online communication and collaboration, information and data literacy, problem solving and digital content creation. Between 93% and 99% of 16-24-year-olds declare having basic or above-basic skills in these areas, which exceeds the averages for the whole EU (87-98%). However, Poland performs significantly worse in terms of digital safety: only 66% of young Poles indicate having skills in this area, while the EU average is 80%.

The results of the international PISA study, conducted by the OECD, also illustrate how students master different skills. In 2022, Polish 15-year-olds achieved poorer results than in the previous editions of the study (499 points compared to 511 in 2018 and 501 points in 2015³). Nevertheless, students from Poland perform very well compared to other EU countries in all three areas (mathematics, reading and science). At the same time, however, the percentage of students with the poorest skills increased in 2022 (compared to the previous two studies): in mathematics to 23% (from 15-17%), in reading to 22% (from 14-15%) and in science to 19% (from 14-16%). A variety of factors may have contributed to these results; the Educational Research Institute points primarily to the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning, and to the reform of the education system as the reasons behind the situation.

¹ The change in the methodology of the digital skills indicator in 2021 (in line with the Digital Competence Framework 2.0) makes the comparison of data with previous years impossible.
² Narrow digital skills means mastering 3 out of the 5 areas of digital skills, and limited digital skills means mastering 2 of them (information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety, problem solving) at a basic or above-basic level.
³ The PISA (OECD) survey is conducted every 3 years among 15-year-olds to assess their skills in mathematics, reading and science. Its last edition was in 2022, the next one is in 2025 (with the results published in 2026).

Higher education is becoming increasingly common and accessible. Currently, 46% of 25-34-year-old Poles hold a higher education degree, which is slightly more than in 2015 (43%) and over three times more than in 2000 (14%). In this regard, Poland meets the EU average, which rose from 37% in 2015 to 44% in 2024. However, significant differences between EU countries are observed in terms of the number of people having higher education. Ireland, Luxembourg and Cyprus have been for years the leaders among countries with the highest percentage of individuals aged 25-34 with higher education (over 60%). At the other end of the spectrum are Romania (where only one in four people in this age group has a higher education degree) and Italy, Hungary and Czechia (with percentages ranging from 32% to 34%).

In all EU countries, there are differences in terms of the number of men and women having a higher education. The percentage of individuals holding a university degree is significantly larger for women than for men. In Poland, 55% of women have completed their higher education, while among men it is 37%. This difference is slightly larger than the EU average, where 50% of women and 39% of men have higher education. The smallest gender gap in terms of the attainment of higher education is observed in Germany, Romania and France (about 6 percentage points), while the largest, exceeding 20 percentage points, occurs in Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia and Croatia.

Poles not only obtain higher education increasingly often, but they also tend to improve their qualifications and skills in order to respond more efficiently to the needs of the changing labour market. Over twice as many Polish adults aged 25–64 are currently in education and training than in 2015 (10% compared to less than 4%). This, however, is still below the EU average, where nearly 14% of adults are in further training (compared to 10% in 2015). There are significant differences across EU countries in this respect – Swedes, Danes and Finns are the most inclined to participate in further training (about 30% of adults), while Bulgarians and Greeks the least (below 5%). In Poland, as in all EU countries, it is the women who are more likely to improve their qualifications than men (11% and 9%, respectively).