School dropouts fell last year to 13%, 0.7 points lower than in 2023, marking the lowest rate in history. Since 2018, this indicator has decreased by five points. This data is taken from the Labour Force Survey published today.
Early dropout from education and training is the percentage of 18-24 year olds who have not completed upper secondary education (intermediate, basic or upper secondary vocational training) and who were not in any form of education or training in the previous four weeks. Last year, this rate stood at 13.7%.
Compared to a decade earlier, the dropout rate has fallen by 8.9 points (40.7%), from 21.9% in 2014 to 13% today. The gap with the EU average has also narrowed from 10.8 points ten years ago to 3.5 points in 2024.
The population aged 20-24 having reached at least upper secondary education reached 79.9% in 2024, which is 14.1 points higher than in 2014 (65.8%) and 0.9 points higher than in 2023. In addition, the percentage of the population aged 25-34 who have attained tertiary education is up 0.6 points to 52.6%, exceeding the 2030 target for tertiary completion of at least 45%.
By sex, the dropout rate among men in 2024 is slightly lower than in the previous year (down 0.3 percentage points), standing at 15.8%. The rate for women is markedly down by 1.3 percentage points to 10%.
In recent years, the Ministry has carried out various initiatives to reduce the rate of school dropouts, which is one of the Government's objectives. In addition to the implementation of programmes for students with more difficulties such as PROA+, in which 360 million euros has been invested, the transformation of Vocational Training has meant a new window for young people towards quality and well-paid jobs, which encourages them to remain in the education system.
Non official translation
