The country's as well as the EU's Europe 2020 target stood at 40%, according to Eurostat. The country is among the 12 EU members which have reached or exceeded their target, including Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden.

In 2015, 56.4% of Slovenian women aged between 30 and 34 finished tertiary education, while the figure for men stood at 32%.

All of Slovenia's figures showed a substantial rise from 2002, when 20.7% of Slovenians had tertiary education, the share of women being 29.1% and of men 12.9%.

The EU-wide 2020 target is to have at least 40% of the population in that age group with completed tertiary education, which women have already surpassed (43%), while men are trailing behind with 34%.

The countries with the highest ranking include Lithuania (57.6%), Cyprus (54.6%), and Ireland (52.3%).

A general decrease, however, was recorded in the share of early leavers from education aged 18 and 24 years. In 2002, the EU's figure stood at 17%, falling to 11% in 2015.

Slovenia ranked second best (5%), right after Croatia (2.8%), having also reached its national target for this category along with 13 other state members.