Greece has certainly taken a hit with the financial crisis, but there are many aspects of the country to be celebrated, one being the nation’s ranking in science.
Greece has been ranked in the top 10 smartest countries around the world when it comes to tertiary education in the sciences according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The OECD tracks university degrees and derives the ranking based on the percentage of science, technology, engineering, or maths (STEM) degrees awarded per capita in a bid to make a fair comparison between countries with different populations.
Greece came in the sixth position, and while no doubt impressive, has dropped its ranking. This has been attributed to the country spending only 0.08 per cent of its GDP on research in 2013 – one of the lowest among developed countries, and a consequence of the crisis.
Meanwhile, taking out the top spot was South Korea followed by Germany, Sweden, Finland, and France.
Following Greece to make up the top ten were Estonia in seventh place, Mexico, Austria, and Portugal.