Although it is not the country with the highest dropout rate, this indicator shows a persistent challenge in the Portuguese education system, where a significant portion of young people are unable to complete their studies.

According to the Jornal de Negócios, Eurostat data from 2024 shows that in Portugal, 16.8% of young people dropped out of school, contrasting with countries with higher dropout rates, such as the Netherlands (32.2%) and Denmark (27.1%). On the other hand, countries like Romania (1.5%), Greece (2.2%) and Bulgaria (3.5%) have much lower rates. School dropout in Portugal occurs at all levels of education, reflecting both academic difficulties and personal reasons.


The study reveals that 42.6% of young people who drop out of education cite the program itself as being too difficult or not meeting their expectations. Other reasons include family or personal factors (18.5%) and a preference for work (13.8%), while only 5.3% mention financial problems. The newspaper also highlights that difficulties related to educational content increase at higher levels, being the main cause of dropout in half of the cases of more advanced education.