11/04/2013
Improving the EU’s performance in education is one of the key objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy1, adopted by the European Council in June 2010. Targets on education are to increase the proportion of persons havingcompleted tertiary education and to reduce the number of early leavers from education and training.
Today, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes the most recent data for the EU and Member States related to these targets.
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%.