This is extremely common in Europe and the UK. It's definitely related to if you afford it. My friends that went to private Schools are mostly taking gap years

This is extremely common in Europe and the UK. It's definitely related to if you afford it. My friends that went to private Schools are mostly taking gap years and most of my friends that went to state schools are going to University or going to work, etc. Interestingly those that went through the state sector tend to know where they want to be going more, I don't want to play to stereotypes but this could be because their were fewer constraints put on them in terms of possible job paths. It's most likely because in the UK we don't have high school, once you're 16 you finish school and can go to Sixth Form College where you choose 4 subjects to focus on, none are compulsory and get deeper knowledge in what you're interested in. Many people feel that after going through School and Sixth Form they want to take some time to explore before University. I've personally not gone to University this year and am working on a startup, I can't call it a gap year as although I have traveled a fair amount to speak at conferences, etc I'm still spending all of my time building a company. I definitely believe whatever path people choose, it should be one that has a rationale behind it over following the crowd or what they were taught to believe. Although my Sixth Form did push the idea of University on students my teachers personally agreed with my decision based on everything I'd been doing over the last few years.