At the end of 2019, Portugal had an early school leaving rate of 10.6 percent, down from 11.8 percent in the previous year, with the goal assumed for 2020 to reduce the rate of young people between 18 and 24-years-old who do not complete mandatory education or training to 10 percent.
According to the European statistical office, with regard to graduates aged between 30 and 34 years old, Portugal had a rate of 36.2 percent last year, a progress compared to 33.5 percent in 2018, but still far from the target 40 percent outlined in the Europe 2020 strategy.
The European Union (EU) has already reached the target set for 2020 with regard to the rate of young graduates (40.3 percent) and, with 10.2 percent of early school leavers, it is close to the 10 percent target.
In 2019, at least half of the population aged between 30 and 34 had completed higher education in Cyprus (58.8 percent), Lithuania (57.8 percent), Luxembourg (56.2 percent), Ireland (55.4 percent), Sweden (52.5 percent) and the Netherlands (51.4 percent).
At the other end of the table are Romania and Italy, with 25.8 percent and 27.6 percent of graduates respectively.
The lowest proportions of early school leaving, on the other hand, were recorded in Croatia (3.0 percent), Lithuania (4.0 percent), Greece (4.1 percent), Slovenia (4.6 percent), Ireland (5.1 percent) and Poland (5.2 percent) and the largest in Spain (17.3 percent), Malta (16.7 percent) and Romania (15.3 percent).