‘Which of these qualifications do you have? Tick every box that applies if you have any of the qualifications listed. If your UK qualification is not listed, tick the box that contains its nearest equivalent. If you have qualifications gained outside the UK, tick the ‘Foreign qualifications’ box and the nearest UK equivalents (if known)’.

Of all the qualification groups in the UK, the largest and most common qualification is now Level 4, a university degree or its equivalent. In 2011, just a quarter of the population aged 16–64 (24.2%), held this qualification. That proportion is currently rising by just over 1% a year, each year, and reached 27.4% in 2014. This group of the most highly qualified people increases rapidly in size as more people are awarded university degrees with every year that passes, and as more graduates migrate into the UK with similar degrees.

The most rapidly declining qualification group are those with no qualifications. This decline is mainly due to people turning 65, as well as early deaths among poorer older people who often die before age 65. With similar effect, the early overseas retirement of the elderly also tends to reduce the proportions of people living in the UK with low or no qualifications.

Everything in this atlas is related to everything else, but not as many might presume. Take ethnicity, mapped in the Religion and Ethnicity chapter. There are high correlations between ethnicity and qualifications gained that are related to many other things, not least the average age of each ethnic group in the UK, because younger groups tend to be better qualified.