Early school leavers (i25)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment assessment
In 2024, in Belgium 7% of the population aged 18 to 24 left school early. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must be reduced to zero percent. This objective will not be reached by continuing the trend since 2000 (data available in November 2025). The number of early school leavers is therefore developing unfavourably.
Early school leavers - Belgium - trend assessment
percentage of population aged 18-24
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2023 | 2025 | 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| observations | 13.8 | 12.9 | 11.9 | 10.1 | 8.1 | 6.2 | -- | -- |
| trend and extrapolation (November 2025) | 14.3 | 13.0 | 11.7 | 9.8 | 7.7 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 5.2 |
| objective 2030 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Note: break in time series: 1999, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2024
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Early leavers from education and training by labour status, edat_lfse_14, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 07/07/2025)
Early school leavers - Belgium and international comparison
percentage of population aged 18-24
| 1992 | 2000 | 2002 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//1992 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 18.1 | 13.8 | 14.1 | 11.9 | 10.1 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 6.2 | 7.0 | -2.9 | -3.6 | -3.1 |
| EU27 | -- | -- | 16.9 | 13.8 | 11.0 | 10.1 | 10.0 | 9.6 | 9.4 | -- | -1.4 | -2.6 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||||
Note: break in time series: BE in 1999, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2024; EU in 2003, 2006, 2014 and 2021
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Early leavers from education and training by labour status, edat_lfse_14, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 07/07/2025).
Early school leavers by region - Belgium
percentage of population aged 18-24
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//2000 | 2024//2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brussels-Capital Region | 20.7 | 19.4 | 18.4 | 15.8 | 11.8 | 9.7 | 8.7 | 9.8 | -3.1 | -3.6 |
| Flemish Region | 11.6 | 10.7 | 9.6 | 7.2 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 5.8 | -2.8 | -1.3 |
| Walloon Region | 15.5 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 13.1 | 10.9 | 9.8 | 6.7 | 8.1 | -2.7 | -5.8 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: The margin of uncertainty for this indicator is indicated in the text for the latest year. Break in time series: 2004, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2024
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Early leavers from education and training by NUTS 2 region, edat_lfse_16, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 07/07/2025).
Early school leavers by sex - Belgium
percentage of population aged 18-24
| 1992 | 2000 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//1992 | 2024//2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| females | 16.5 | 11.0 | 10.0 | 8.6 | 6.2 | 5.9 | 4.4 | 4.8 | -3.8 | -5.0 |
| males | 19.8 | 16.4 | 13.8 | 11.6 | 10.5 | 10.2 | 7.9 | 9.2 | -2.4 | -2.6 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in time series: 1999, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2024
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Early leavers from education and training by labour status, edat_lfse_14, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 07/07/2025).
Definition: share of young people aged 18 to 24 with at most a lower secondary school degree who did not receive any education or training during the 4 weeks preceding the interview. This education level corresponds to the levels 0-2 of the 2011 ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) for data from 2014 onwards and to the levels 0-3C of the 1997 ISCED for data up to 2013. The data come from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Statistics Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The methodology of this survey has been revised several times, and comparing data across multiple years requires caution. The data used here come from Eurostat, which publishes detailed and comparable results between EU Member States. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty should be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statistics Belgium.
The following breakdowns are available for this indicator: region and sex.
Goal: zero percent early school leavers by 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 4.1: "By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes". This goal seeks to ensure that all girls and boys complete free and quality primary and secondary education is interpreted as aiming at 0% early school leavers by 2030.
Under the European Pillar of Social Rights, the EU has set a target of 9% and Belgium of 7.4% in the share of school leavers by 2030 (European Commission, 2022; Federal Public Service Social Security, 2023).
UN indicator: the selected indicator is related to indicator 4.1.1 - Proportion of children and young people: (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex. It was chosen because it provides information on the number of students leaving secondary education with a degree from lower secondary education at most.
Sources
-
Council of the European Union (2021), Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030), p. 15, Official Journal of the European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu, 2021/C 66/01.
-
European Commission (2022), The European Pillar of Social Rights: state of play on the national target for 2030, https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&furtherNews=yes&newsId=10299 (consulted on 02/10/2025).
- Federal Public Service Social Security (2023), The evolution of the social situation and social protection in Belgium 2021, https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/docs/en/publications/silc/silc-analysis-social-situation-and-protection-belgium-2021-en.pdf (consulted on 02/10/2025).
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