The top 10 smartest countries in Europe have been named, and some of the results were surprising.

Results from a survey produced by Eurostat took into account learning from primary school all the way up to university and trade school.

The highest level recognised, called tertiary education, is reached by 31.8 percent of the EU and is the desired quality that every nation is striving for.

The survey, which also included the UK, also found that 43.5 percent of Britons (aged 25-74) have studied at a tertiary education level which ranks us seventh among the Europeans.

The UK even beat out two big hitters from the EU, as Italy ranked second worst in the study and France fell eight places behind the UK.

The results showed that the UK’s young population is very ambitious, and far exceeded the expectations set by the EU. The UK beat the bloc’s target with nearly half (49.4 percent) of all people aged 25-34 receiving a tertiary education.

Unsurprisingly, Scandinavian countries Sweden and Norway rank among the best. This is thanks to their renowned education policies which make higher education more accessible with university students facing little or no tuition fees.

Interestingly, four of the 10 also hold statuses as the happiest countries in the world.

Ireland placed first, with almost half of the population reaching university. However, they only minorly eclipsed second place Luxembourg by 0.3%. 14% of Irish people have studied trade skills according to the study which is fascinating when considering that Luxembourg doubled that statistic with 30.1%.

Vocational education such as culinary school or electrical engineering is also consdered tertiary eduaction by the International standard classification of education (ISCED) and is widely regarded as instrumental to the status of national intelligence. This is because these valuable skills cannot be acquired at the ‘medium’ level. 3rd place Sweden also excel in this department with 25.3%.

Eurostat also revealed that more women are studying at a higher level in comparison to their male counterparts. As evident in a 2022 study, the proportion of women with tertiary education was 47.6 percent whereas it was 36.5 percent for men on average across 35 European countries.

It is suggested that this disparity is rooted in development as early as childhood and typical gender behaviours are the cause for a difference in attitude and the resulting education level.

The findings revealed the top 10 smartest countries in Europe are:

10. Netherlands

9. Switzerland

8. Belgium

7. UK

6. Lithuania

5. Cyprus

4. Norway

3. Sweden

2. Luxembourg

1. Ireland.