14% of young people in the EU dropped out of education

Data collected in 2024 show that 14.2% of people aged 15-34 in the EU left formal education or training at least once during their lifetime.

The highest dropout rates were registered in the Netherlands (32.2%), Denmark (27.1%), Luxembourg (24.8%) and Estonia (24.4%). On the other hand, the lowest were recorded in Romania (1.5%), Greece (2.2%) and Bulgaria (3.5%).

Source dataset: lfso_24eab01

In all levels of education (low, medium and high), the most common reason for not completing an education programme was that it did not meet expectations or was too difficult (42.6% of people who have left formal education). This was followed by other family or personal reasons (18.5%) and preference for work (13.8%). Only 5.3% of people mentioned financial reasons as the main reason for leaving formal education programme or training.

Reasons related to the education programme itself varied across education levels: they accounted for 28.7% at the low education level, 35.9% at the medium level and a significant 50.2% at the high level.

However, reasons related to an own illness or disability were more common at the lower education level (11.1%) than at the medium (9.8%) or high level (5.6%).

Similarly, other family or personal reasons were also more prominent at the lower educational level (24.6%) and became less significant as education levels increased: 21.8% for medium level and 15.0% for high level. This was the same for those who preferred to work: 17.7% at low level, 15.7% at medium level and 11.9% at high level.

Dropping out of a programme for financial reasons was more common at the high level of education (5.7%) than at the medium level (4.8%).

Source dataset: lfso_24eab03