EU early school leavers went down to 9.1%

Key Takeaways

• Germany’s early leaver rate reached 13.1% in 2025. It is the second-highest in the EU. Only Romania, at 15.5%, ranks higher.
• The EU-wide rate fell to 9.1% in 2025. That is just above the bloc’s target of under 9% by 2030.
• Between 2015 and 2025, Germany’s rate rose by 3.0 percentage points. It is the EU’s second-largest increase after Cyprus’s 4.6-point rise.
• Malta’s rate fell by 7.7 percentage points over the same decade, the steepest drop in the EU. That took Malta below both Germany and the EU average for the first time.
• Croatia (2.1%), Greece (3.0%), and Ireland (3.6%) recorded the EU’s lowest early leaver rates in 2025.
• In 2023, early leaver rates for foreign-born 18-to-24-year-olds in Germany were three times higher than for those born in the country, at 29.4% versus 9.7%. That gap is one of the contributing factors behind Germany’s rising rate, alongside a share of students from migrant backgrounds that nearly doubled between 2012 and 2022.

Early School Leaver Rates Across EU Countries

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There’s an official name for young people who leave the school system too soon: early leavers from education and training. In plain terms, that includes dropouts. It also includes anyone who finishes only lower secondary school and never returns for more training.

The EU has spent over two decades shrinking this group, and it is close to succeeding. The bloc-wide rate fell from 16.9% in 2002 to 9.1% in 2025. That is just above the EU’s target of under 9% by 2030.

That progress was not shared equally. Germany now has the second-highest early leaver rate in the EU. It is a country known for its structured school and apprenticeship system.

Germany’s Early Leaver Rate Is Now Second-Highest in the EU

Germany’s rate reached 13.1% in 2025. That is up from 12.5% in 2002. Only Romania ranks higher at 15.5%.

The increase is recent. Between 2015 and 2025, Germany’s rate rose by 3.0 percentage points. That is the EU’s second-largest increase over that decade. It is behind only Cyprus’s 4.6-point rise.

The gap is wider for young men than for young women. In 2025, 14.9% of young men in Germany qualified as early leavers, compared with 11.3% of young women.

Foreign-born status widens the gap further. In 2023, 29.4% of foreign-born 18-to-24-year-olds in Germany were early leavers. That compares with 9.7% of those born in Germany, and it rises to 33.5% for people born outside the EU. The share of German students with a migrant background nearly doubled between 2012 and 2022, from 13.4% to 25.8%.

Malta’s Rate Fell Faster Than Any Other EU Country’s

Malta shows what rapid improvement looks like. Between 2015 and 2025, its rate fell by 7.7 percentage points. It is the steepest drop in the EU. That took Malta’s rate to 8.6% in 2025, below both the EU average and Germany’s rate for the first time.

Malta’s government credits its National Education Strategy 2024-2030 for the shift. The strategy reformed school-based assessments to help teachers identify struggling students earlier. It also expanded vocational pathways to keep more students in some form of training after compulsory school ends. This includes the Applied Vocational Certificate.

Portugal and Spain also posted large declines over the same decade, at 7.4 and 7.2 percentage points, respectively. Both remain higher than Malta, but the direction is the same: countries that started with the EU’s worst rates have closed much of the gap.

The EU Average Hides Big Differences Between Countries

At 9.1%, the EU’s overall rate sits almost exactly at its 2030 target. But that number is an average across 27 very different results.

Seventeen EU countries have already met the 9% target. Croatia (2.1%), Greece (3.0%), and Ireland (3.6%) posted the lowest rates in 2025.

A small group moved the opposite way. Between 2015 and 2025, three countries recorded the EU’s largest increases:

• Cyprus: +4.6 points
• Germany: +3.0 points
• Austria: +2.7 points

The same pattern shows up over the longer run. Denmark, Czechia, Slovenia, Finland, and Slovakia also finished the 2002-2025 period slightly higher than where they started, even as the EU total nearly halved.

Germany’s position stands out the most. Its school system is often held up as a model, built around a strong vocational and apprenticeship track. Yet its early leaver rate has moved further from the EU’s target while most of the bloc has moved closer. The gap between foreign-born and native-born students is one of the clearest, sourced reasons why.