Abitur rate
Share of school leavers from general schools with the Abitur (Allgemeine Hochschulreife), 2024/25
29.5% of pupils leaving general schools in the eastern states in 2024/25 had the Abitur, against 33.3% in the West (without Bavaria) and 41.9% in Berlin. Bavaria is left out this year: its return to the nine-year Gymnasium left almost no Abitur year group in 2025 (6.2% of leavers, against 26.9% a year earlier). Hamburg has the highest share (51.5%), Saxony-Anhalt the lowest in the East (24.2%).
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·16 states · 2024/25
Former West
33.3%
excl. Berlin
Former East
29.5%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
41.9%
The East stands at 89% of the West's level (2024/25).
By state
- Hamburg51.5%
- Berlin41.9%
- Brandenburg37.7%
- Nordrhein-Westfalen37.1%
- Schleswig-Holstein35.6%
- Rheinland-Pfalz32.5%
- Bremen30.9%
- Niedersachsen30.4%
- Hessen29.9%
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern29.3%
- Sachsen28.6%
- Saarland28.4%
- Baden-Württemberg28.2%
- Thüringen27.1%
- Sachsen-Anhalt24.2%
2024/25
Then and now
Drag across the map to compare 1997/98 with 2024/25. Both maps share one colour key.
Former West
22.5%
excl. Berlin
Former East
26.1%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
30.2%
Germany
23.6%
The East stands at 116% of the West's level (1997/98).
Notes & caveats
- Shares are our calculation from Destatis counts: leavers with the given outcome ÷ all leavers from general schools (all school types including evening schools and external candidates, both sexes) × 100. East, West and Germany are computed from summed state counts.
- "2024/25" is the school year at whose end pupils left, i.e. mostly summer 2025.
- The West figure for 2024/25 excludes Bavaria, whose share (6.2%) is an artefact of its switch back from eight to nine years of Gymnasium (first G9 Abitur in 2026); with Bavaria the West would be 29.1%. Bavaria is shown without a value on the map. In 2023/24, with all states, the shares were 29.6% East, 32.4% West and 40.9% Berlin.
- Only the general Abitur from general schools is counted. The Fachhochschulreife and Abitur obtained at vocational schools (e.g. Fachgymnasien, much more common in some states) are excluded, so this is not the KMK "Studienberechtigtenquote".
- Shares depend on how many pupils leave general schools early for vocational education, which differs between states.
Show the table
| State | Side | 2024/25 | 1997/98 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 28.4% | 21.6% |
| Berlin | berlin | 41.9% | 30.2% |
| Brandenburg | east | 37.7% | 28.3% |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 29.3% | 22.8% |
| Sachsen | east | 28.6% | 26.6% |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 24.2% | 24.1% |
| Thüringen | east | 27.1% | 27.9% |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 35.6% | 20.2% |
| Hamburg | west | 51.5% | 30.4% |
| Niedersachsen | west | 30.4% | 21.6% |
| Bremen | west | 30.9% | 30.9% |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 37.1% | 26.3% |
| Hessen | west | 29.9% | 25.3% |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 32.5% | 21.3% |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 28.2% | 20.0% |
| Bayern | west | — | 18.1% |