Early leaver from education and training, previously named early school leaver, refers to a person aged 18 to 24 who has completed at most lower secondary education and is not involved in further education or training; the indicator 'early leavers from education and training' is expressed as a percentage of the people aged 18 to 24 with such criteria out of the total population aged 18 to 24.
For Eurostat statistical purposes, an early leaver from education and training is operationally defined as a person aged 18 to 24 recorded in the Labour force survey (LFS):
- whose highest level of education or training attained is at most lower secondary education. At most lower secondary education refers to ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) 2011 level 0-2 for data from 2014 onwards and to ISCED 1997 level 0-3C short for data up to 2013;
- who received no education or training (neither formal nor non-formal) in the four weeks preceding the survey.
The 'early leavers from education and training' statistical indicator is then calculated by dividing the number of early leavers from education and training, as defined above, by the total population of the same age group in the Labour force survey.