(LUXEMBOURG) – An increasing number of Europeans aged 30 to 34 complete tertiary education – from 23.6% in 2002 to 38.7% in 2015 – while there are fewer and fewer early leavers from education and training, figures from Eurostat show.
This pattern was even more significant for women (from 24.5% in 2002 to 43.4% in 2015, meaning above the overall Europe 2020 target) than for men (from 22.6% to 34.0%, meaning still below the overall Europe 2020 target).
The target of the EU Commission’s ‘Europe 2020’ strategy is that at least 40% of 30-34-year-olds in the EU should have completed tertiary education by 2020.
The share of early leavers from education and training (aged 18-24) has steadily decreased in the EU, from 17.0% in 2002 to 11.0% in 2015. Young women (9.5% in 2015) are less affected than young men (12.4%).
The figures also show that the highest proportion of people aged 30-34 with tertiary education were in Lithuania, and the lowest in Italy.
The lowest share of early school leavers was in Croatia, and the highest in Spain.
