Québec, June 27, 2024. – From 2016 to 2021, the population holding a university degree increased in all of Québec’s regions, despite a decline in the population aged 25 to 64 in many of these regions. The strongest increases were recorded in the regions of Laurentides, Estrie, Lanaudière, Montérégie, and Laval.
The Institut de la statistique du Québec released today its second issue of a series entitled Les titulaires d’un grade universitaire au Québec : ce qu’en disent les données du Recensement de 2021. It presents the situation in Québec’s 17 administrative regions and how it has evolved since 2006.
In this issue, we learn that, in 2021:
- The share of university graduates in the population aged 25 to 64 exceeded 30% in the regions of Capitale-Nationale, Outaouais, Laval, and Montréal, which had the highest proportion in Québec at 45.5% (the provincial average was 29.5%). In all other regions—apart from Montérégie and Estrie—this share did not exceed 20%.
- Women accounted for at least 60% of university graduates in ten regions, while this was the case for seven regions in 2016.
Gender gap in university attainment in favour of women
In 2021, in Québec, 33.0% of women and 26.0% of men aged 25 to 64 had a university degree, a difference of 7.0 percentage points in favour of women.
The gender gap varies from one administrative region to another. Women are ahead in all of Québec’s regions, and by more than 8 percentage points in eight regions: Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Estrie, Côte-Nord, Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Chaudière-Appalaches, Laurentides, and Centre-du-Québec.
Among those aged 25 to 34, the gender gap reaches at least 15 percentage points in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Capitale-Nationale, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Laurentides, and Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine where it stands at 18.3 points. Still, the gap narrowed in several regions between 2016 and 2021.
Greater concentration of university graduates in the four regions adjacent to Montréal and in Estrie
In 2021, 69.7% of university graduates in Québec lived in the Montréal region or in a region adjacent to Montréal, namely Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides and Montérégie.
From 2016 to 2021, the concentration of university graduates increased in these four regions and in Estrie at the expense of most of the other regions in the province, including Montréal.
For 25 years, the Institut de la statistique du Québec has been producing, analyzing, and disseminating official, objective and high-quality statistical information on various aspects of Québec society. It is responsible for conducting all statistical surveys of general interest. The relevance of its work makes it a strategic ally for decision makers and an essential source of information for all those wishing to learn more about Québec.