(23 April 2020) – The Europe 2020 strategy’s target is that at least 40% of 30-34-year-olds should have completed tertiary education by 2020. Reaching 40.3%, the EU crossed this threshold in 2019.
Meanwhile, the share of early leavers from education and training (aged 18-24) has steadily decreased in the EU, from 16.9% in 2002 to 10.2% in 2019. Young women (8.4%) are less affected than young men (11.9%). The Europe 2020 target is to reduce the rates of early school leaving in the EU to below 10% by 2020.
In 2019, at least half of the population aged 30 to 34 had completed tertiary education in Cyprus (58.8%), Lithuania (57.8%), Luxembourg (56.2%), Ireland (55.4%), Sweden (52.5%) and the Netherlands (51.4%). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportions were observed in Romania (25.8%) and Italy (27.6%).
Eighteen Member States have already met or exceeded their 2020 national target for this indicator: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.