Archive:European Neighbourhood Policy - East - education statistics

Data from September 2014. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: October 2015.

This article is part of an online publication; it presents information on a range of education statistics for the European Union (EU) and six countries that together form the European Neighbourhood Policy-East (ENP-East) region, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The article includes information relating to public expenditure on education, numbers of pupils and students, the proportion of early school leavers, educational attainment among those aged 20–24, and a special focus on tertiary education.

File:Public expenditure on education as a share of GDP, 2003–13 (¹) (% of GDP) ENPE 2014.png

Figure 1: Public expenditure on education as a share of GDP, 2003–13 (¹)
(% of GDP) - Source: Eurostat (educ_figdp) and (enpr_pseduc)

File:Public expenditure on education as a percentage of total public expenditure, 2013 (¹) (%) ENPE 2014.png

Figure 2: Public expenditure on education as a percentage of total public expenditure, 2013 (¹)
(%) - Source: Eurostat (educ_figdp) and (enpr_pseduc)

File:Number of pupils and students by education level, 2013 (¹) (thousand) ENPE 2014.png

Table 1: Number of pupils and students by education level, 2013 (¹)
(thousand) - Source: Eurostat (educ_ilev) and (enpr_pseduc)

File:Early leavers from education and training among those aged 18–24 years, 2013 (¹) (% of male female 18–24 year olds) ENPE 2014.png

Figure 3: Early leavers from education and training among those aged 18–24 years, 2013 (¹)
(% of male / female 18–24 year olds) - Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_14) and (enpr_pseduc)

Table 2: Upper secondary and tertiary educational attainment among those aged 20–24 years, 2003, 2008 and 2013 (¹)
(% of 20–24 year olds) - Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_08) and (enpr_siinr)

File:Average rate of change for the number of students in tertiary education, 2003–13 (¹) (% per annum) ENPE 2014.png

Figure 4: Average rate of change for the number of students in tertiary education, 2003–13 (¹)
(% per annum) - Source: Eurostat (educ_ilev) and (enpr_pseduc)

File:Proportion of 30–34 year olds having completed tertiary or equivalent education, 2013 (¹) (%) ENPE 2014.png

Figure 5: Proportion of 30–34 year olds having completed tertiary or equivalent education, 2013 (¹)
(%) - Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_07) and (enpr_pseduc)

File:Tertiary graduates in science and technology among those aged 20–29 years, 2013 (¹) (per 1 000 male female inhabitants aged 20–29) ENPE 2014.png

Figure 6: Tertiary graduates in science and technology among those aged 20–29 years, 2013 (¹)
(per 1 000 male / female inhabitants aged 20–29) - Source: Eurostat (educ_itertc) and (enpr_pseduc)

Main statistical findings

Public expenditure on education

Moldova was the only ENP-East country that spent more on education (relative to GDP) than the EU average

Figure 1 shows the importance of public expenditure on education relative to GDP over the period 2003–13. For the EU-28, this ratio fluctuated close to 5 % for much of the last decade. The modest increase observed in 2009 should be interpreted in its context, as the global financial and economic crisis resulted in GDP falling in 2009, while educational expenditure continued to rise; it was not until 2011 that the effects of austerity measures resulted in the level of educational expenditure stagnating across the EU-28 (as spending was unchanged compared with the year before).

Many of the ENP-East countries had similar developments, insofar as they saw the relative importance of educational expenditure rising between 2008 and 2009, followed by a subsequent contraction in the relative size of education spending through to 2011. Fresher data exists for 2012 and 2013 and this shows a mixed picture among ENP-East countries, as the relative importance of educational expenditure rose in Belarus and in Georgia, while it fell at a particularly fast pace in Moldova. Nevertheless, spending on education continued to represent 7.1 % of GDP in Moldova in 2013, a considerably higher share than in any of the other ENP-East countries, and also higher than in the EU-28 (in 2011).

Moldova and Belarus allocated almost one fifth of their public expenditure to education

Figure 2 provides an alternative means of analysing the relative importance of educational expenditure, looking at the share of education spending in total public expenditure. Education accounted for slightly more than one tenth (10.8 %) of total public expenditure in the EU-28 in 2011. The share of public expenditure allocated to education in Moldova (18.3 %) and Belarus (17.9 %) was considerably higher, as education accounted for closer to one fifth of the total in both of these countries in 2013. In the remaining ENP-East countries (for which data are available), educational expenditure accounted for a lower share of total public expenditure than in the EU-28, although the share in Georgia (10.3 % in 2013; data are provisional) was close to the EU average.

Numbers of pupils and students

There were almost 109 million pupils and students attending pre-primary and educational establishments across the EU-28 in 2012, while the corresponding total for the six ENP-East countries was approximately 14 million pupils and students in 2013. Table 1 presents the latest data available showing the distribution of these pupils and students across the various educational levels (classified according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED)).

A fifth of the total number of pupils and students in Moldova attended a pre-primary educational establishment

An analysis of these figures shows that 14.4 % of all pupils and students in the EU-28 attended pre-primary education (ISCED level 0). The relative importance of pre-primary education varied considerably among the ENP-East countries in 2013, from around one twentieth (5.2 %) of the total number of pupils and students in Azerbaijan to upwards of one fifth (20.6 %) of the total number of pupils and students in Moldova.

Approximately a quarter (25.9 %) of all pupils and students in the EU-28 attended a primary education establishment in 2012. Shares for four of the ENP-East countries were slightly lower than this in 2013 — within the range of 19.6 % to 22.0 % — while primary education accounted for a higher share of the total number of pupils and students in Georgia (35.7 %) and Azerbaijan (29.3 %).

Post-graduate students accounted for a higher share of the total number of pupils and students in the EU than in any of the ENP-East countries

At the other end of the educational system, almost 18 % of all pupils and students in the EU-28 attended the first stage of tertiary education in 2012, with a further 0.7 % following second stage tertiary (post-graduate) studies. Compared with the EU, a higher proportion of all pupils and students attended a first stage of tertiary education in Belarus (27.2 %) and Ukraine (25.3 %) in 2013, while the share of first stage tertiary students in Moldova was the same as in the EU-28.

The relative share of post-graduate students in the EU-28 was higher than in any of the ENP-East countries; note that this group of students are particularly mobile and it is relatively common for post-graduate students to study abroad.

Early leavers from education and training

One of the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy is ‘Youth on the move’ which aims to enhance the performance of education systems in the EU and to facilitate the entry of young people into the labour market; its headline target is to reduce the share of early school leavers to less than 10 % of the population aged 18–24.

Azerbaijan was the only ENP-East country to report a higher rate of early school leavers among women than among men

In 2013, some 12.0 % of those aged 18–24 in the EU-28 could be described as early leavers from education and training (see Figure 3). There was some difference in rates between the sexes, as the rate for men (13.6 %) was 3.4 percentage points higher than that for women (10.2 %).

Across the ENP-East countries, rates for early school leavers were generally below those recorded in the EU-28, although it is important to note that the data for this indicator is relatively old for ENP-East countries). As for the EU, rates for male early school leavers were generally higher than the equivalent rates for females across the ENP-East countries. This was particularly the case in Armenia (7 percentage points difference). By contrast, Azerbaijan was the only ENP-East country where the rate of female early school leavers (7.7 %) was higher than that for men (6.9 %).

Educational attainment among those aged 20–24 years

Education and training are increasingly seen as a basis for international competitiveness and a drive towards creating high-value, high-skill economies. Indeed, the EU’s goal of becoming a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy is, in part, founded upon the premise of developing its knowledge-based economy.

Almost the entire youth population in Ukraine and Georgia completed at least an upper secondary level of education

The share of the population aged 20–24 that reached at least an upper secondary educational level (ISCED 3) — otherwise referred to as the youth education attainment level — was 81.0 % in the EU-28 in 2013 (see Table 2). This marked an increase of 3.8 percentage points when compared with the corresponding figure 10 years earlier (2003). Within the EU there were differences between the sexes, as the female youth education attainment level was, at 83.8 %, some 5.4 percentage points higher than the male level.

Among the ENP-East countries there were considerable differences in youth education attainment levels. In Ukraine (97.5 %, data are for 2012) and in Georgia (95.3 %), almost the whole of the youth population (aged 20–24) had completed an upper secondary level of education, while the same ratio was below 50 % in Armenia and in Belarus (note the latest data that are available refer to 2008 and 2009 respectively). Differences between the sexes were quite varied across the ENP-East countries: for example, in Armenia the male youth education attainment level was 15.8 percentage points higher than the female level (2008 data) and in Azerbaijan the rate for men was 4.3 percentage points higher (2013 data). By contrast, female youth education attainment levels in 2013 were moderately higher in Belarus and Georgia as well as in Ukraine in 2012, although the differences compared with the levels for males were smaller than those recorded within the EU-28.

Focus on tertiary education

The last couple of decades have seen policymakers increase their focus on human capital. Attempts have been made to raise the proportion of the workforces with a post-secondary education and to improve access to lifelong learning opportunities, leading to higher participation rates in tertiary education (ISECD 5 and 6). The global financial and economic crisis may also have resulted in more young people remaining in further education and / or training, as employment opportunities — especially among the youth population — were limited.

Armenia was the only ENP-East country to record an expansion in its number of tertiary students that was at a faster pace than growth witnessed in the EU

Within the EU-28 the number of tertiary students grew, on average, by 1.6 % per annum during the period 2002–12. There were just over 20 million tertiary students in the EU-28 in 2012, equivalent to almost one in five (18.6 %) of the total population of pupils and students.

Slightly fresher data is available for the ENP-East countries (covering the period 2003–13). Armenia was the only ENP-East country to report an expansion in its number of tertiary students that was at a more rapid pace — average growth of 2.2 % per annum — than in the EU-28, while the rate of change in Azerbaijan was the same as that for the EU. In the four remaining ENP-East countries, Moldova and Belarus reported relatively modest growth in the number of tertiary students between 2003 and 2013, while there was a fall in student numbers in both Ukraine and Georgia. Note that overall population numbers have been falling in some ENP-East countries for several years and that these reductions in numbers of inhabitants may impact upon the absolute number of students in tertiary education, while the relative share of the population attaining higher levels of education continues to rise (see below for more details).

More than 40 % of the population aged 30–34 had completed a tertiary level of education in Georgia

Figure 5 shows the proportion of 30–34 year olds who had completed a tertiary level of education. Within the EU-28, this ratio rose at a rapid pace: from just over a quarter (25.1 %) of those aged 30–34 in 2003 to more than one third (36.9 %) of this subpopulation a decade later in 2013. Georgia was the only ENP-East country (for which data are available) to report a higher proportion of persons aged 30–34 (40.8 % in 2013) having completed a tertiary level of education than the corresponding share for the EU-28. In the remaining ENP-East countries, close to one quarter of the population aged 30–34 had attained a higher level of education.

Time series availability is generally weak for the ENP-East countries, however, there are data for Georgia covering the period 2003–13 and this also shows a rapid expansion in the proportion of persons aged 30–34 having attained a tertiary level of education, their share rising from 32.7 % in 2003 to reach 40.8 % by 2013.

Aside from Georgia, the proportion of women graduating from science and technology disciplines in the ENP-East countries was considerably lower than for men

There has been considerable focus on differences between subjects that are studied by men and women at university. Figure 6 shows that across the EU’s population aged 20–29 in 2012, the proportion of men with a science or technology degree (22.9 per 1 000 male inhabitants) was approximately twice as high as the corresponding ratio for women (11.2 per 1 000 female inhabitants).

The proportion of men having graduated from a science or technology discipline in Belarus, Ukraine and Azerbaijan was higher than in the EU-28, peaking in Belarus at 35.3 graduates per 1 000 male inhabitants aged 20–29 in 2013. A similar comparison shows that a higher proportion of women in Belarus and Ukraine graduated from these disciplines when compared with the EU average.

The proportion of men aged 20–29 with a science or technology degree was 2.2 times as high as the corresponding ratio for women in both Belarus and Ukraine in 2013, rising to 3.5 times as high in Azerbaijan. By contrast, in Georgia (note that data are for 2009) there was a very low proportion of the population aged 20–29 who had graduated in science and technology disciplines and furthermore the share was slightly higher among women than it was among men.

Data sources and availability

The data for ENP-East countries are supplied by and under the responsibility of the national statistical authorities of each country on a voluntary basis. The data result from an annual data collection cycle that has been established by Eurostat. These statistics are available free-of-charge on Eurostat’s website, together with a range of additional indicators for ENP-East countries covering most socio-economic topics.

Education statistics cover a range of subjects, including: expenditure, personnel, participation and attainment. The standards for international statistics on education are set by three organisations:

the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) institute for statistics (UIS);
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD);
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The main source of data for the EU-28 aggregate is a joint UNESCO/OECD/Eurostat (UOE) questionnaire on education systems and this is the basis for the core components of the Eurostat database on education statistics; Eurostat also collects data on regional enrolments and foreign language learning. EU-28 data on educational attainment are mainly provided through household surveys, in particular the EU labour force survey (LFS).

Context

Each EU Member State is responsible for its own education and training systems. As such, EU policy in this area is designed to support national action and address common challenges, by providing a forum for exchanging best practices. Through the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (known as ET 2020), which was adopted by the Council in May 2009, EU Member States identified four common objectives for 2020: making lifelong learning and mobility a reality; improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship; and enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training. The strategy sets a number of benchmarks in relation to education that are to be achieved by 2020, including:

at least 95 % of children between the age of four and the age for starting compulsory primary education should participate in early childhood education;
the share of early leavers from education and training should be less than 10 %;
the share of low-achieving 15-year olds in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15 %;
the share of 30–34 year olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 40 %.

In cooperation with its ENP partners, Eurostat has the responsibility ‘to promote and implement the use of European and internationally recognised standards and methodology for the production of statistics, necessary for developing and monitoring policy achievements in all policy areas’. Eurostat undertakes the task of coordinating EU efforts to increase the statistical capacity of the ENP countries. Additional information on the policy context of the ENP is provided here.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Eastern European Neighbourhood Policy countries (ENP-East) (enpr), see:

Population and social conditions (enpr_ps)

ENP countries: education (enpr_pseduc)

Science and technology (enpr_sc)

ENP countries: science and technology (enpr_scienc)

External links