He tried to put a different spin on the question of “who rules the world,” using a series of data and studies from political scientists who enjoy comparing the kinds of people who win seats in national parliaments anyway.
They found it easy enough to track the age of elected legislators (the global average is now 51) and the proportion of women (still just 27%). However, they had more trouble looking at how other characteristics – such as the educational background of elected politicians – differ across countries – something two studies released in October and November were asked to address.
The Economist figures
The first, compiled by researchers from six universities, gathered biographical data on nearly 20,000 MPs in 97 countries between 2015 and 2017 and is the most comprehensive survey to date. Because even when governments change, the figures probably reflect current reality.
The study found that, on average, 78% of legislators had at least completed an undergraduate degree and that 40% had a master’s degree. These numbers are well above the average for all adults (which in rich countries are currently 35% and 15% respectively). The ranking includes 56 countries that have a population of more than 2 million. and data for at least 90% of MPs.
Ukraine appears to have the highest proportion of parliamentarians with postgraduate degrees – almost a quarter had a doctorate when the data was collected. Academic degrees have long been useful in Ukrainian politics: all of its presidents since independence in 1991, except for Volodymyr Zelensky, claim to hold a doctorate. Even the newest and most diverse parliament elected in 2019 included a similar percentage of lawmakers with PhDs.
Other places with highly qualified elected politicians include South Korea – where about a third of MPs claim to hold a doctorate – and the US, where more than two-thirds have postgraduate degrees.
In contrast, Italy, Norway and Britain also had high proportions of MPs with no more than secondary education. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, for example, became Speaker of the House of Commons in Britain without going to university. Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini, Italian politicians, have dropped out of university.
The second study, by researchers in Chile, was based on a sample of 6,000 lawmakers in about 30 countries in 2023. It finds that, in North America and Latin America, law graduates tend to be the largest blocs in national legislatures.
In the Nordic countries people who have studied social sciences such as economics are much more common.
African voters seem to prefer business graduates.
Britain elects an unusually large number of politicians whose advanced degrees are in the arts and humanities, such as history or classical studies.
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