The Economist: Ukraine has the worldʼs largest proportion of politicians with postgraduate degrees. What state is ruled by the most educated?

Researchers from six universities collected the biographies of nearly 20 000 parliamentarians from 97 countries between 2015 and 2017 to find out which country has the most educated politicians. This is the most comprehensive study to date, the data of which has been published by The Economist.

The researchers found that, on average, 78% of legislators have at least a college degree, and 40% have completed graduate school. These figures are well above the averages for the adult population as a whole, which in rich countries are now 35% and 15% respectively.

According to the research, the highest share of politicians with a postgraduate degree is in Ukraine, and almost a quarter of legislators had a doctorate. All Ukrainian presidents since independence in 1991, except for Volodymyr Zelensky, have claimed to have a doctorate. Even the younger and more diverse composition of the parliament elected in 2019 contained the same proportion of PhDs, researchers say.

Other countries with highly educated lawmakers include South Korea, where about one-third of politicians claim to have a doctorate, and the United States, where more than two-thirds of government officials have graduate degrees. But in Italy, Norway and Britain, a high proportion of legislators have only a secondary education.

Another study, conducted by researchers in Chile last year, relied on a sample of 6 000 politicians in about 30 countries. It shows that in North and Latin America, law graduates usually form the largest blocs in national legislatures.

In Scandinavian countries, it is much more common to meet politicians who have studied social sciences, such as economics. African voters seem to prefer people with a business background. In Britain, most senior officials have degrees in the arts and humanities, such as history or classical philology.

A study published in 2015 examined the effectiveness of members of the US Congress during the 20th century. It found that politicians with higher education do not stay in office longer, pass more bills and are not re-elected more often than those without it.

A recent study in Spain found that mayors with degrees were no better than others in terms of reducing unemployment, balancing the budget or promoting tourism.

Countries where the majority of parliamentarians have a legal education do not enjoy a significantly stronger rule of law. And around the world, the most educated politicians lose elections at about the same rate as less-educated candidates.

And yet, itʼs getting harder and harder for people without degrees to get their names on the ballot. National legislatures have begun to listen less to the population they are supposed to represent, at least when it comes to education. This can have unfortunate consequences, as people who receive an extremely expensive education usually have different priorities than "people on the streets". Citizens are less inclined to vote if they do not see people like themselves on the ballot. In general, parliaments around the world are gradually being taken over by younger politicians, as well as women.

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