I need your advice as I cannot find the answer anywhere. I graduated in top 20% from my university (abroad). Is top 20% equivalent to 1st class degree or 2.1?

If the top of your class got 50% and your in the top 20% then you have a 3rd.

Think about your question again...Even if you graduated within the top 20% of your University, your degree might be still classified as a 2:2 depending on the quality of the students...and the marks you achieved most importantly!However without having any intention to do you injustice my feeling is that you should be within the upper second class range (65-69%) but again this is pure speculation...What was your marking like? On the other hand, let's suppose that in Oxford/Cambridge for example every second student graduates with a first....so even with a first, purely by degree classification, someone would be within the top 50% :))...So both indicators provide valuable information (Marking and Top bracket %)

Dear TaxMan - yor answer was of utmost help. It fully answered my question and no further explanation is needed. Thank you a lot for your kindness and time. Dear "An anwer..." - fair point and sorry for not including any details. a) The grading scale in my country is: excellent (approx. 5% students get this mark), very good (10%), good (25%), fair (30%) and fail (20%). b) The grades are not compared across universities so it can be that average person from tier3 Uni has better marks than very good person from tier1 uni. Hence, school's reputation plays a role and employers first scan CVs by name and only then by grades.c) My uni is leading tier1 here so I guess quality of students is very good.What is this "class range" you mentioned. How to read this figure?

Employers normally ask you to write down your grades as they are known in your country and not attempt to translate them to the British grading system, but should you wish you know anyway for reference, I think your best bet would be to ask either your university, a UK university (pretending to get into a programme, for example) or a HR professional (headhunter or in-house) for solid verification. However, loosely speaking, one may assume that the grades may translate as follows:Excellent - FirstVery Good - 2.1Good - 2.2Fair - ThirdFail - Fail