Education in Europe 2000-2001 In EU Member States, between 55% and 95% of 18 year olds are in education

12 June 2003

In the school year 2000-2001, 71% of 18-year-olds living in the European Union were still in the education system 1 . The proportion who remained in education was highest in Sweden (95%), Finland (89%) and Belgium (85%). The lowest proportions of 18-year-olds still in education were observed in the United Kingdom (55%) and Portugal (66%). Amongst the Acceding Countries , the proportion of 18-year-olds who were still in education varied from 32% in Cyprus , where most tertiary students study abroad, to 86% in the Czech Republic .

These data come from a publication 2 issued today by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg , which presents key statistics coming from the joint UNESCO - OECD - Eurostat data collection on education, and from the Eurostat questionnaire on languages. It covers the 15 EU Member States , the 10 Acceding and 3 Candidate Countries , Iceland , Norway , Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) .

More women than men remain in education at 18 years old

Overall in the EU , more women than men were still in education at 18 years old (74% compared with 69% respectively). This was true in all Member States except Austria . In Ireland , the difference in the participation rates was percentage points (women: 93%, men: 66%), in Greece 15 percentage points (women: 76%, men: 61%) and in Spain 12 percentage points (women: 77%, men: 65%), whilst in Germany and the Netherlands the rates for men and women were nearly equal. In the Acceding Countries as well, more women than men remained in education at 18 years old, except in Malta .

More female than male teachers in upper secondary education

There are generally more female than male teachers in upper secondary education 3 . Female teachers were more numerous than male teachers in 8 out of 12 EU Member States , and 8 out of 9 Acceding Countries , for which data are available. Only in Denmark , Germany , the Netherlands and Austria among EU Member States, and in Malta among Acceding Countries, were male teachers more numerous than female teachers at this level. However, male headteachers were more numerous than female headteachers at upper secondary level, in all the 5 Member States and 4 Acceding Countries for which data are available except Slovenia .

Ireland has most graduates in mathematics, science and technology

One of the structural indicators of inovation and research monitored as part of the Lisbon process is the proportion of graduates 4 in mathematics, science and technology among the population aged 20-29 years. In 2000-2001 this indicator was highest in Ireland (23.2 graduates per 1000 population aged 20-29), France (19.7‰), the United Kingdom (19.5‰) and Finland (16.0‰), with four other Member States ( Belgium , Denmark , Spain and Sweden ) recording proportions over 10‰. Among the Acceding Countries, only Lithuania (13.1‰) exceeded 10‰. [Table and further information]

DN: STAT/03/65 Date: 12/06/2003