Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDI-EU2020-INDICATORS@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and quality education for all.

SDG 4 seeks to ensure people have access to equitable and quality education through all stages of life, from early childhood education and care, through primary and secondary schooling, to technical, vocational training and tertiary education. In addition to promoting formal qualifications, SDG 4 also aims to increase the number of youths and adults with relevant skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

Indicator is also included as secondary indicator in the Social Scoreboard for the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Adult learning is crucial for maintaining good health, remaining active in the community and being fully included in all aspects of society, as well as improving and developing skills, adapting to technical developments, advancing a career or returning to the labour market.

The Education and training 2020 (ET 2020) framework includes the benchmark to increase the share of adults participating in learning to 15 %. Adult learning is the key subject of the Council Resolution on a renewed European agenda for adult learning and the ET 2020 framework. It also plays a crucial role in the Europe 2020 flagship initiative "New Skills Agenda for Europe". The recently adopted Recommendation Upskilling Pathways: new opportunities for adults, aims to improve adult learning provision in order specifically to address the needs of low-skilled, low-qualified adults.

The indicator measures the share of people aged 25 to 64 who stated that they received formal or non-formal education and training in the four weeks preceding the survey (numerator). The denominator consists of the total population of the same age group, excluding those who did not answer to the question 'participation in education and training'. Adult learning covers both general and vocational formal and non-formal learning activities. Adult learning usually refers to learning activities after the end of initial education. Data stem from the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).

% of the population aged 25 to 64.

Calendar year.

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS (LFS)

Data source: ESS Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually in April.

T+1 year

New data points are disseminated within one year after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, North Macedonia and Turkey.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented times series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2000.

3 to 4 data points

Comparability over time is medium. There are breaks in time series in some countries, mainly due to changes in the LFS questionnaire (improved implementation of the variables to measure participation in education and training).

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

See table  sdg_04_60

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

Copyrights: Eurostat Copyright/Licence Policy is applicable.