Improving the EU’s performance in education is one of the key objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, adopted by the European Council in June 2010. Targets on education are to increase the proportion of persons having completed tertiary education and to reduce the number of early leavers from education and training.

In the EU27, 36% of persons aged 30 to 34 had completed tertiary education in 2012, compared with 34% in 2010 and 28% in 2005. The Europe 2020 strategy’s target is that at least 40% of the population in this age group in the EU27 should have completed tertiary education in 2020.

For early leavers from education and training, 13% of the population aged 18-24 in the EU27 had at most lower secondary education and were currently not in further education or training, compared with 14% in 2010 and 16% in 2005. The target for 2020 for the EU27 is to reduce the share to below 10%.

Proportion of those aged 30-34 who completed tertiary education ranges from 22% in Italy, Romania and Malta to 51% in Ireland

In 2012, the highest proportions of those aged 30 to 34 having completed tertiary education were found in Ireland (51.1%), Cyprus (49.9%), Luxembourg (49.6%) and Lithuania (48.7%), and the lowest in Italy (21.7%), Romania (21.8%) and Malta (22.4%). Eight Member States have already met or exceeded their 2020 national targets for this indicator (Denmark, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden).

On average in the EU27, a higher proportion of women aged 30 to 34 had completed tertiary education than men (40.0% compared with 31.6%). This was true for almost all Member States, with the largest gaps in Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia. For women, the proportion ranged from 23.2% in Romania to 57.9% in Ireland, while for men it varied between 17.2% in Italy and 50.4% in Luxembourg.

In 2012, the proportion of those aged 30 to 34 who had completed tertiary education increased compared with 2005 in all Member States. The proportion in particular almost doubled in Latvia (from 18.5% in 2005 to 37.0% in 2012), the Czech Republic (13.0% and 25.6%) and Romania (11.4% and 21.8%).

Share of early leavers from education and training ranges from 4% in Slovenia to 25% in Spain

In 2012, the lowest proportions of the population aged 18-24 who had at most lower secondary education and were currently not in further education or training were observed in Slovenia (4.4%), Slovakia (5.3%), the Czech Republic (5.5%) and Poland (5.7%), and the highest in Spain (24.9%), Malta (22.6%) and Portugal (20.8%). Nine Member States have already met or exceeded their 2020 national targets for this indicator (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden).

On average in the EU27, a lower proportion of women were early leavers from education and training than men (11.0% compared with 14.5%). This was true for all Member States, except Bulgaria.

In 2012, the proportion of early leavers from education and training decreased compared with 2005 in all Member States, except Poland and the United Kingdom. The most notable decrease was registered in Portugal (from 38.8% in 2005 to 20.8% in 2012).