Education: Where in the EU Has the Most Early School Dropouts?
Poinews.com – According to Eurostat’s most recent report, 9.1% of EU youth aged 18 to 24 left school in 2025 without continuing their education or training. This figure varies significantly across member states, with Croatia showing the lowest rate at 2.1% and Romania the highest at 15.5%. The data highlights a stark regional divide in educational attainment among young people.
Gender Differences in Dropout Rates
Statistical trends reveal a gender gap in early school leaving, with young men more likely to exit education before completing their studies compared to women. Over the past decade, this gap has narrowed. For instance, the proportion of male early leavers decreased from 12.5% in 2015 to 10.6% in 2025, while the share for female students dropped from 9.4% to 7.5%.
Regional Variations in Educational Outcomes
Urban environments appear to offer better educational retention, with cities reporting the smallest dropout rate at 8% in 2025. Suburban areas saw a slightly higher rate of 10.1%, while rural regions recorded 9.6%. Notably, Romania, Bulgaria, and Denmark had the highest rates of early leavers among rural populations, with the majority of these individuals stopping their studies after lower secondary education.
Interestingly, young Romanians, Germans, and Spaniards are also more likely to drop out of school and reside in towns or suburbs. This suggests that urban and suburban settings, while generally better, still face challenges in retaining students in certain countries.
EU Goals and Progress
The European Union has set an ambitious target to lower the early school dropout rate to below 9% by 2030. As of 2025, 17 EU nations have already achieved this benchmark. Countries such as Croatia, Greece, and Ireland continue to lead in keeping youth in education, while others like Romania, Germany, and Spain lag behind.
Employment Challenges for Dropouts
Early school leavers often encounter difficulties in securing employment. In 2025, 46.2% of these individuals were already in work, while 30.8% were actively seeking jobs but unemployed. The remaining 23.1% were neither employed nor in the job market. A handful of EU countries, including the Netherlands, Malta, Sweden, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Germany, and Latvia, reported that over half of early leavers were employed.
Conversely, in many nations, a large portion of early school leavers were not in employment. Lithuania had the highest share of unemployed young dropouts at 86.4%, followed by Slovakia (77.9%), Bulgaria (76.7%), and Croatia (76.2%). This underscores the varying economic impacts of early education exits across the EU.
