Romania has highest rate of early school leavers in the European Union
<p>Romania registers the highest share of 'early school leavers' (young people aged 18-24 leaving early from education and training) among the EU member states, at 16.6% compared to a European average of 9.5%.</p>

<p>At the EU level, the share of young people who decided to leave education and vocational training early has decreased constantly in the last 10 years (from 11.8% in 2013 to 9.5%), which brings member countries closer to achieving the goal of reaching below 9% by 2030, according to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20240523-1?mc_cid=44fc4e93fb&amp;mc_eid=cd1f92f96c" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Eurostat</a> data.</p>

<p>Already, 16 member countries have reached the target for 2030, the best situation being in Croatia (2%), Poland and Greece (3.7% each), and Ireland (4%).</p>

<p>At the opposite pole are Romania (16.6%), Spain (13.7%), Germany (12.8%), and Hungary (11.6%), where the percentage of young people who give up education after the age of 18 is the highest picked up.</p>

<p>Romania is also the EU state with the lowest share of the 25-34-year-old population with university education, of only 23%, according to Eurostat data for 2023.</p>

<p><em>iulian@romania-insider.com</em></p>

<p><em>(Photo source: <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Dreamstime.com</a>)</em></p>