Archive:European Neighbourhood Policy - East - education statistics

Data extracted in April 2021.

Planned article update: March 2022.

Highlights

In 2018, Moldova public expenditure on education was 5.5% of its GDP. In comparison, the same year and in 2019, EU public spending on education was 4.7% of GDP.

Among the European Neighbourhood Policy-East countries, in 2019 a higher proportion of people aged 30-34 had completed tertiary education in Belarus (70%), Ukraine (62%) and Georgia (41%) than in the EU (40%).

Among the European Neighbourhood Policy-East countries, more than 90% of young adults in Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia had completed at least an upper secondary education in 2019, compared with 83.5% in the EU.

Public expenditure on education as a share of GDP, 2009-2019

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: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Data shown for Georgia exclude the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia over which Georgia does not exercise control and the data shown for Moldova exclude areas over which the government of the Republic of Moldova does not exercise control. The latest data for Ukraine generally exclude the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol and the territories which are not under control of the Ukrainian government (see specific footnotes for precise coverage).

The article includes information relating to public expenditure on education, numbers of pupils and students, educational attainment among young adults, and tertiary education.

Full article

Expenditure on education

Figure 1 shows the share of public expenditure on education relative to gross domestic product (GDP) over the period 2009-2019. This ratio can be affected by government policy on educational expenditure, the number of school-age children and overall economic performance as measured by GDP. During an economic recession, the share of education within GDP might rise, as governments attempt to maintain educational expenditure. Inter-country comparisons can, in particular, be affected by the proportion of school-age children in the population.

Figure 1: Public expenditure on education as a share of GDP, 2009-2019
(% of GDP)
Source: Eurostat (gov_10a_exp) and (enpe_educ_figdp)

Some of the ENP-East countries saw the proportion of their GDP spent on education by general government fall over the period in question. This group includes Moldova, whose public expenditure on education fell from 8.7 % of GDP in 2009, the highest of any ENP-East country, to 5.5 % in 2018 (the most recent year available). This was still the highest expenditure that year of any ENP-East country. Ukraine’s public expenditure on education fell from 6.5 % of GDP in 2009, the second highest, to 5.0 % in 2016 (more recent data not available), which remained higher than most of the other ENP-East countries. Armenia saw its public expenditure on education fall from 3.4 % of GDP in 2009 to 2.0 % in 2019, the lowest in the region. However, it should be noted that the data for Armenia only concern central government expenditure.

In Belarus, public expenditure on education was essentially stable over the period, despite a one-year fall in 2011, which was reversed the following year. In 2009 it was 4.9 % of GDP and in 2019, 5.1 %. Azerbaijan’s expenditure on education fell slightly from a low starting point, being 3.2 % of GDP in 2009 and 2.7 % in 2019. Besides Belarus, Georgia was the only ENP-East country to show an increase in this measure, spending 3.2 % of GDP on education in 2009 and 3.8 % in 2019.

Figure 2 shows public expenditure on education as a share of total public expenditure, 2009-2019. This statistic abstracts from the overall economic cycle - the two graphs should be read together. Public expenditure on education as a share of total public expenditure can show an increase if overall government expenditure is being reduced but education is protected from budget cuts. Since the definitions of expenditure often differ, analyses over time for each country are often more useful than inter-country comparisons.

Armenia’s expenditure on education declined from 11.3 % as a proportion of total public expenditure in 2009 to 7.8 % in 2019. Again, note that the data for Armenia only concern central government expenditure. Starting at a much higher point, at 14.1 % of total public spending in 2009, Ukraine’s public expenditure on education fell to 12.4 % in 2016 (the most recent data). From an even higher figure of 19.1 % in 2009, Moldova’s expenditure fell to 17.6 % of total public spending in 2018, still the highest recorded in the region that year. Azerbaijan’s public spending on education also fell from 10.9 % in 2009 to 9.0 % of total public expenditure in 2019.

In contrast, Belarus’ public expenditure on education as a proportion of the total rose from 11.0 % in 2009 to 13.3 % in 2019, one of the highest in the ENP-East region that year. Taking the data from Figures 1 and 2 together, it can be inferred that, over the 2009-2019 period, Belarus’ expenditure on education has been protected at the expense of other public spending. Georgia’s increase in educational expenditure is also shown as an increase in its share of public expenditure. This grew by 6.9 percentage points (pp), from 10.7 % in 2009 to 17.6 % in 2019, the highest in the ENP-East region. However, definitions differ.

Figure 2: Public expenditure on education as share of total public expenditure, 2009-2019
(% of total public expenditure)
Source: Eurostat (gov_10a_exp) and (enpe_educ_figdp)

The EU’s expenditure on education as a share of GDP declined slightly from 5.1 % in 2009 to 4.7 % in 2019. As a proportion of public expenditure, it remained close to constant throughout the period, at 10.0 % in both 2009 and 2019.

Numbers of pupils and students

Figure 3 presents the latest data showing the distribution of pupils and students across the various educational levels (classified according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011)).

Based on the latest available data for each country, there were close to 12.8 million pupils and students attending educational establishments in the ENP-East countries in 2019, from pre-primary to tertiary education.

In Azerbaijan, the definition of pre-primary education differs from other ENP-East countries; in Georgia, pre-primary and primary pupils are categorised together. Therefore, the two groups are analysed together. In 2019, the range of shares of pupils in pre-primary and primary education was very narrow between most of the ENP-East countries, from 40.3 % in Armenia to 43.1 % in Georgia. Moldova was a slight outlier with 47.5 %.

Since Moldova had a higher proportion of primary pupils within the full education sector, it follows that it had a lower proportion of pupils and students in post-primary education than the other ENP-East countries, at 52.5 %. The other ENP-East countries were again close to one another, with the proportion of pupils and students in post-primary education ranging from 56.9 % in Georgia to 59.7 % in Armenia.

Taking lower and higher secondary education together, Ukraine had the lowest proportion of pupils at secondary level with 35.2 %, reflecting that it had a slightly higher proportion of students in tertiary and other post-secondary education than the other ENP-East countries, at 24.3 %. In both Belarus and Georgia, 21.6 % of the students attended tertiary and other post-secondary education. These two countries also recorded similar levels of students in secondary education, at 35.7 % and 35.3 % respectively. The other ENP-East countries reported lower levels of students in tertiary and other post-secondary education: in Armenia, 13.8 % of students studied at this level, while it was 13.6 % in Moldova and 12.3 % in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan had 46.7 % of its pupils /students in secondary education, Armenia 45.9 % and Moldova 38.9 %.

Figure 3: Pupils and students by education level, 2019
(% of total)
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_enra02) and (enpe_educ_uoe_enra02)

There were more than 95 million pupils and students across the EU in 2019. One fifth (20.3 %) of these were in tertiary and other post-secondary education. 42.0 % of all its students and pupils attended primary or pre-primary education, leaving 37.6 % of secondary school pupils.

Educational attainment among those aged 20-24 years

Figure 4 shows the proportion of the population aged 20-24 that has reached at least an upper secondary educational level — otherwise referred to as the youth education attainment level — in 2009 and 2019 for the EU and the ENP-East countries.

Among the ENP-East countries there were considerable differences in the education attainment levels among these young adults. In Ukraine 97.5 % of women and 95.3 % of men aged 20-24 had completed at least an upper secondary level of education in 2019. This was similar to the situation in 2009, when the levels were 97.3 % and 96.2 % respectively. Although Belarus recorded similar levels in 2019, with 97.3 % for young men and 98.7 % for young women, the story was rather different ten years earlier; in 2009, the figures were 51.1 % for men and 46.4 % for women. In this context, it should be noted that young women had overtaken men in completing upper secondary school in Belarus. Georgia also had high levels of youth education attainment in 2019: 90.5 % of young men and 90.8 % of young women had completed upper secondary school. The data were, however, higher ten years earlier: 92.1 % for men and 94.0 % for women.

Moldova saw a small increase in male education attainment, from 73.7 % having completed upper secondary school in 2009 to 74.7 % in 2019. Over the same period, female attainment fell slightly from 82.2 % to 81.3 %. Much larger increases occurred in Armenia: male education attainment increased from 46.3 % to 80.1 %; and female from 34.2 % to 67.2 %. While Moldova recorded the largest female-led education gender gap in the region, Armenia was the only country in the region where a higher share of young men had completed upper secondary school than the corresponding share of young women (male-led education gender gap).

Azerbaijan recorded 93.4 % male attainment in 2009 and female attainment of 91.6 %. No recent data on educational attainment is available for Azerbaijan.

In the EU, 81.0 % of young men and 86.2 % of young women had completed upper secondary school in 2019. Both had increased by around 5 percentage points compared with the situation in 2009.

Figure 4: Proportion of young adults having attained at least an upper secondary education, by gender, 2009 and 2019
(% of 20-24 year olds)
Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_03) and Eurostat data collection

Tertiary education

Tertiary education is defined as ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 – see the Data Sources section for more information. Figure 5 shows the proportion of 30–34-year-olds in 2019 who had completed a tertiary level of education.

Belarus had the highest overall proportion of tertiary qualification holders in 2019, at 70.3 %, made up of 62.2 % of men and 78.3 % of women. Ukraine was next, with an overall figure of 62.4 %, consisting of 54.4 % of men and 70.8 % of women.

Other ENP-East countries had considerably lower levels of tertiary education completion. In Georgia, 41.2 % of the 30-34 age group had completed tertiary education, consisting of 36.3 % of men and 46.1 % of women. In Armenia, 36.0 % of the 30-34 year cohort were so qualified, made up of 34.3 % of men and 37.6 % of women. Moldova had a 31.4 % total proportion of those qualified at tertiary level, 23.7 % of men and 38.5 % of women. Thus, at tertiary level, there is a female-led education gender gap in all ENP-East countries reporting, with higher shares of women achieving this education level than men, although the difference is rather insignificant in Armenia. Data are not available for Azerbaijan.

Figure 5: Proportion of people aged 30-34 years having completed tertiary education, by gender, 2019
(%)
Source: Eurostat (edat_lfse_03), (enpe_edat_lfse_03) and Eurostat data collection

Figure 6 shows the ratio of those graduating with a science or technology degree relative to the total population aged 20-29 in 2019. The ratio of men having graduated from a science or technology discipline per 1 000 male inhabitants aged 20-29 was higher in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine than in the EU (2018 data), being 54.0 %, 44.1 % and 28.0 % respectively. The corresponding ratios for women were 32.9 % in Azerbaijan and 17.0 % in Belarus; the ratio for women in Ukraine was 11.5 %, which fell below that of the EU. Note the footnote to Figure 6 showing the different definition used by Azerbaijan. In Georgia in 2019, 11.0 % of males aged 20-29 years and 8.7 % of females held science and technology degrees.

Within the EU in 2018 (2019 not available), this figure stood at 25.6 male graduates per 1 000 male inhabitants in this age group, almost twice as high as the corresponding ratio for women: 13.3.

Figure 6: Tertiary graduates in science and technology, relative to the population aged 20-29, 2019
(per 1 000 male / female inhabitants aged 20-29)
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_grad02), (demo_pjangroup) and Eurostat data collection

Source data for tables and graphs

European Neighbourhood Policy — East countries — education: tables and figures

Data sources

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 aggregate is a joint UNESCO/OECD/Eurostat (UOE) questionnaire on education systems. 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 data on educational attainment are mainly provided through household surveys, in particular the EU labour force survey (LFS).

Note that the collection of data on education underwent a considerable change as a result of the introduction of a new version of ISCED, namely ISCED 2011, replacing ISCED 1997. Longer time series are generally available on the basis of ISCED 1997, while data for the EU and its Member States are often available on the basis of ISCED 2011 from the 2014 reference year.

Tables in this article use the following notation:

Value in italics	data value is forecasted, provisional or estimated and is therefore likely to change;
:	not available, confidential or unreliable value;
–	not applicable.

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.

The strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training was adopted by the Council in May 2009, with the following 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
Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training

Based on the mid-term stock-taking of this strategic framework, in 2015 the Council adopted new priority areas and concrete issues for further work up to 2020, as laid down in the Joint Report from the European Commission and the Council on the implementation of the strategic framework (2015/C 417/04):

Relevant and high-quality knowledge, skills and competences developed throughout lifelong learning, focusing on learning outcomes for employability, innovation, active citizenship and well-being.
Inclusive education, equality, equity, non-discrimination and the promotion of civic competences.
Open and innovative education and training, including by fully embracing the digital era.
Strong support for teachers, trainers, school leaders and other educational staff.
Transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications to facilitate learning and labour mobility.
Sustainable investment, quality and efficiency of education and training systems.

In 2021, a new ‘Strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030)’ was adopted by Council Resolution 2021/C 66/01. This sets the following strategic priorities:

Improving quality, equity, inclusion and success for all in education and training.
Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality for all.
Enhancing competences and motivation in the education profession.
Reinforcing European higher education.
Supporting the green and digital transitions in and through education and training.

In March 2020, the European Commission presented a joint policy proposal for Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020: Reinforcing Resilience - an Eastern Partnership that delivers for all. This is intended to succeed the 2015 review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (SWD(2015) 500 final).

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.