Portugal: 6% of young people left education without upper secondary, against 45% in 2002
These are 18–24-year-olds no longer in education. Since 2020 Portugal has had fewer of them than Germany, where the share barely changed: 12.5% in 2002 and 13.1% in 2025. The share fell in 21 of 28 countries; in Malta from 53% to 9%.
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Eurostat counts the share of people aged 18–24 who finished education without upper secondary (general or vocational) and are no longer studying. In Portugal almost half were in that position in the early 2000s; now about one in sixteen. It is about years in education, not skills.
Lines: share of early leavers without upper secondary among all 18–24-year-olds, %.
- Portugal: early leavers, 18–24 %
2002: 45.0; 2025: 6.1
Eurostat: early leavers from education and training (edat_lfse_14) · CC BY 4.0
- Germany: early leavers, 18–24 %
2002: 12.5; 2025: 13.1
Eurostat: early leavers from education and training (edat_lfse_14) · CC BY 4.0
- Malta: early leavers, 18–24 %
2002: 53.2; 2025: 8.6
Eurostat: early leavers from education and training (edat_lfse_14) · CC BY 4.0
Eurostat, edat_lfse_14 (EU Labour Force Survey). Countries with data for 2002 and 2025: 28.
The series have breaks: the new education classification of 2014, the new survey regulation of 2021, and in Germany the microcensus rebuild of 2020; Germany's jump in 2021 coincides with a break, so it is only described as "barely changed". Portugal's fall is far larger than any break. Emigration of the young and a changing population may have played a part.
A question for this picture
And what awaits those who still leave without upper secondary? In Finland fewer and fewer of them find work.