Secondary education statistics

Data extracted in May 2025.

Planned article update: May 2026.

Highlights

In 2023, 1.7% of 14-year-olds, 2.6% of 15-year-olds and 4.6% of 16-year-olds in the EU were not in education. For 14- and 16-year-olds, the out-of-school rate was higher for boys than for girls; for 15-year-olds, the rates were the same for both sexes.

Within upper secondary education, more than two thirds of pupils in 2023 were educated in public sector institutions in almost all EU countries; Belgium (where the share was 40.9%) and the Netherlands (8.0%) were the exceptions.

In 2023, the vast majority (95.2%) of the 1.4 million pupils across the EU in post-secondary non-tertiary education attended vocational programmes.

Men accounted for 38.4% of upper secondary teachers in the EU in 2023, and 30.8% of lower secondary teachers.

Out-of-school rate of 15 year olds, 2023

This article presents statistics on secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED levels 2, 3 and 4) in the European Union (EU) and forms part of the online publication Education and training in the EU - facts and figures.

Pupils enter lower secondary education (ISCED level 2) typically between the ages of 10 and 13 (ages 11 and 12 being the most common), while they normally enter upper secondary education (ISCED level 3) between the ages of 14 and 16 (age 15 being the most common).

In general, compulsory education is completed at the end of lower secondary education, although in some countries it continues into upper secondary education. As its name suggests, post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED level 4) starts after the completion of upper secondary education.

School helps young people acquire basic life skills and competences that are necessary for their personal development. The quality of a pupil’s school experience affects not only their development, but also their place in society, level of educational attainment, and employment opportunities.

Participation by level

Table 1: Number of secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education pupils, 2023
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_enrs01), (educ_uoe_enrs04) and (educ_uoe_enrs07)

In the EU, there were 19.1 million pupils in lower secondary education in 2023 – see Table 1. The number of pupils in upper secondary education was slightly lower, at 18.3 million.

In 2023, contrary to the situation in the EU as a whole, upper secondary pupils outnumbered lower secondary pupils in most of the EU countries; Germany and France were among the exceptions with a higher number of lower secondary pupils.

Post-secondary non-tertiary education was by far the smallest of the 3 education levels covered by this article, with 1.4 million pupils across the EU in 2023. For EU countries, the number of post-secondary non-tertiary pupils in 2023 expressed in relation to the number of upper secondary pupils ranged from 30.8% in Germany to less than 2.0% in Spain, Malta, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Italy. It should be noted that post-secondary non-tertiary education does not exist in some of the EU countries, namely Denmark, Croatia, Cyprus and Slovenia.

Public and private secondary education

In the EU, the vast majority (82.9%) of lower secondary education pupils in 2023 were taught in public institutions, as defined in the UOE methodology – see notes ^[1]. At least two thirds of lower secondary school pupils were educated in public institutions across the vast majority of EU countries. The only exceptions were the Netherlands (25.9%), Belgium (42.4%) and Malta (55.5%) – see Table 1.

A large majority (77.8%) of pupils in upper secondary education in the EU were taught in public institutions in 2023. At least two thirds of pupils in upper secondary education were educated in public institutions in nearly all of the EU countries; the only exceptions were the Netherlands (8.0%) and Belgium (40.9%).

Among the EU countries which have post-secondary non-tertiary education, the situation in 2023 was somewhat different.

Ireland, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Portugal each reported that more than 97.0% of all post-secondary non-tertiary students were educated in public institutions.
All post-secondary non-tertiary students were educated in the private sector in Italy and the Netherlands. Particularly high shares for the private sector were also observed in Spain (96.5%) and Poland (89.8%). Around three quarters of post-secondary non-tertiary students were educated in the private sector in Bulgaria and Belgium.

Participation by type of programme

In the EU, the vast majority (97.9%) of lower secondary school pupils in 2023 followed a general programme, with the small remainder following vocational programmes.

In 12 EU countries, there were no vocational programmes in lower secondary education.
Where vocational programmes existed in lower secondary education, the share of pupils in these programmes (rather than in general programmes) was less than 8.0% in 13 EU countries. The largest share of lower secondary pupils in vocational programmes was 16.7% in Belgium, while Croatia was the only other EU country with a double-digit share (10.4%).

In the EU, around half (50.9%) of upper secondary school pupils in 2023 followed a general programme and the other half followed a vocational programme. In total, 13 EU countries reported a majority of upper secondary pupils following general programmes and 14 reported a majority following vocational programmes.

In contrast to the situation observed for lower secondary education, the vast majority (95.2%) of pupils across the EU in post-secondary non-tertiary education in 2023 followed vocational programmes.

In 17 of the 23 EU countries with post-secondary non-tertiary education, all pupils at this level of education were following vocational programmes. In Germany and Belgium, the share of pupils following vocational programmes exceeded 90.0% and in Sweden the share was 75.6%.
In the 3 remaining EU countries with post-secondary non-tertiary programmes – Czechia, France and Malta – the majority of pupils at this level followed general programmes.

Out-of-school rates

Figure 1: Out-of-school rate of 15-year-olds, 2023
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_enra27)

Out-of-school rates can be calculated for individual ages (in years): they are published for children aged 14, 15 and 16 years. These rates show the share of children at a particular age who weren’t enrolled in school. In 2023, 1.7% of 14-year-olds in the EU were out of school, 2.6% of 15-year-olds and 4.6% of 16-year-olds. For 14- and 16-year-olds, the out-of-school rate was higher for boys than for girls; for 15-year-olds, the rates were the same for both sexes.

Figure 1 presents the out-of-school rate for 15-year-olds. For the EU, the rate in 2023 was 2.6% both for girls and for boys. Looking across the EU countries, 7 reported rates that were above the EU average for girls and 8 reported rates that were above the EU average for boys. By far the highest rates, both for girls and for boys, were observed in Romania and Bulgaria.

In 11 of the EU countries, out-of-school rates for 15-year-old boys in 2023 were higher than for girls.
In 6 of the EU countries, out-of-school rates for 15-year-old boys in 2023 were the same as for girls; in all of these cases, out-of-school rates were 0.0% both for girls and for boys.
In 10 of the EU countries, out-of-school rates for 15-year-old boys in 2023 were lower than for girls.

Graduates from vocational education

Figure 2: Distribution of upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary vocational education graduates by broad field and sex, EU, 2023
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_grad02)

An analysis of pupils graduating from upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary vocational education in the EU is shown in Figure 2. This illustrates which fields of study are most common in vocational programmes for these 2 education levels and also identifies differences between the sexes.

Health and welfare was the 4th largest field of study for graduates from upper secondary vocational programmes, with a 13.7% share. By contrast, among graduates from post-secondary non-tertiary vocational programmes, health and welfare was by far the largest field of study, with 41.1% of the total.
The 3 other most common fields of study were the same for graduates of vocational programmes at upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels. For graduates from post-secondary non-tertiary vocational programmes, the shares were 15.2% for business, administration and law, 14.6% for engineering, manufacturing and construction and 13.5% for services. For graduates from upper secondary vocational programmes, the shares were 31.9% for engineering, manufacturing and construction, 18.7% for services and 17.3% for business, administration and law.
For both of these levels of education, there were more male graduates than female graduates from the following fields: information and communication technologies; engineering, manufacturing and construction; agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary; and natural sciences, mathematics and statistics.
For both of these levels of education, there were more female graduates than male graduates from the following fields: education; health and welfare; social sciences, journalism and information; arts and humanities; business, administration and law; services; and generic programmes and qualifications.

Teachers and pupil-teacher ratios

Table 2: Number of teachers in secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education, 2023
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_perp01)

In 2023, there were 1.77 million lower secondary teachers in the EU and a slightly lower number (1.60 million) of upper secondary teachers (see Table 2 for details of coverage); note that the number of lower secondary teachers in the EU is an underestimate, whereas the number of upper secondary education is an overestimate. Unlike their pupils, there was a large gender imbalance among teachers at these educational levels, although less so than the considerable differences observed for early childhood education and primary education.

Within lower secondary education in 2023, men accounted for 30.8% of all teachers in the EU. Among the EU countries, male teachers were always in a minority in lower secondary education, with the share

lowest in the Baltic EU countries, below 20.0%, and
highest in the Netherlands, at 43.7%.

Men accounted for 38.4% of upper secondary teachers in the EU in 2023, in other words 7.7 percentage points more than their share for lower secondary education. Female teachers were in a majority in upper secondary education in all EU countries. Nevertheless, in all EU countries apart from the Netherlands, the gender gap was smaller for upper secondary education than for lower secondary education.

The share of male teachers in upper secondary education was lowest in Latvia (21.5%) and Lithuania (21.9%).
The share of male teachers was above 40.0% in 10 EU countries, with the 2 highest shares in Luxembourg (48.0%) and Denmark (49.1%).

Information on the number (and gender distribution) of teachers for post-secondary non-tertiary education isn’t available for 3 EU countries for 2023, while for 5 more there are no post-secondary non-tertiary teachers. Among the 19 EU countries for which data are available for this education level, there was a wider range in the gender distribution of teachers for post-secondary non-tertiary education than for lower or upper secondary education.

In Luxembourg’s very small post-secondary non-tertiary workforce, 71.3% of teachers were male.
More than half of post-secondary non-tertiary teachers were also male in Malta (68.8%), Bulgaria (65.2%), Czechia (59.5%), France (57.8%; excluding independent private institutions), Sweden (53.4%) and Belgium (52.8%).
Fewer than 30.0% of post-secondary non-tertiary teachers were male in Austria, Poland and Romania.

Table 3: Pupil-teacher ratios in secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education, 2023
Source: Eurostat (educ_uoe_perp04)

Pupil-teacher ratios in lower and upper secondary education were broadly similar to those observed for primary education. In 2023, the pupil-teacher ratio for lower secondary education for the EU was 11.7 pupils per teacher, while for upper secondary it was 11.3 pupils per teacher – see Table 3.

Among the EU countries, the pupil-teacher ratio in lower secondary education was 2.4 times as high in Slovakia (16.1 pupils per teacher) as it was in Malta (6.6 pupils per teacher) in 2023.

In 14 of the 25 EU countries for which 2023 data are available (no data for Ireland or Slovenia), pupil-teacher ratios for lower secondary education were lower than those reported for upper secondary education. This gap was particularly large in Finland and Estonia (note the different coverage for Estonia). Among the 11 EU countries with higher pupil-teacher ratios for lower secondary education than for upper secondary education, the largest difference was observed in France (note the incomplete coverage within upper secondary education).

Among the EU countries, the pupil-teacher ratios in upper secondary education had a similarly wide range than that observed for lower secondary education. The ratio of 17.4 pupils per teacher in Finland in 2023 was 2.4 times as high as the ratio of 7.3 pupils per teacher in Malta.

The 2023 data for pupil-teacher ratios for post-secondary non-tertiary education are available for 18 of the EU countries; data aren’t available for 4 EU countries, while for the other 5 there are no post-secondary non-tertiary pupils and/or teachers. Pupil-teacher ratios for post-secondary non-tertiary education were higher than those for upper secondary education in 10 of the 18 EU countries.

Looking within post-secondary non-tertiary education, most of the EU countries reported ratios in 2023 in the range of 5.1 to 19.1 pupils per teacher. Bulgaria reported a ratio (1.8 pupils per teacher) below this range while ratios above it were observed in Romania (50.1 pupils per teacher) and Poland (54.1 pupils per teacher).

Source data for tables and graphs

Secondary education statistics: tables and figures

Data sources

Source

The standards for international statistics on education are set by 3 international organisations

the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) institute for statistics (UIS)
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.

The source of data used in this article is a joint UNESCO/OECD/Eurostat (UOE) data collection on education statistics and this is the basis for the core components of Eurostat’s database on education statistics; in combination with the joint data collection Eurostat also collects data on regional enrolments and foreign language learning.

More information about the joint data collection is available in an article on the UOE methodology.

Classification

The international standard classification of education (ISCED) is the basis for international education statistics, describing 9 different levels of education.

Key concepts

Pupil-teacher ratios are calculated by dividing the number of full-time equivalent pupils and students in each level of education by the number of full-time equivalent teachers at the same level. This ratio shouldn’t be confused with average class size, which refers to the number of students in a given course or classroom.

Context

Demographic developments are reflected in reduced birth rates, which have impacted upon the structure of the EU’s population: the proportion of people aged under 30 has decreased in a majority of the EU countries. These changes can have a significant impact on human and material resources required for the sound functioning of education systems, such as average class sizes or teacher recruitment strategies.

A Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond, was adopted by the Council in February 2021. It seeks to remove barriers to learning and improve access to quality education for all people through 5 strategic priorities over the period 2021–30. Among others, these include

improving quality, equity, inclusion and success for all in education and training
enhancing competences and motivation in the education profession
supporting the green and digital transitions in and through education and training.

For monitoring progress, 7 EU-wide targets have been introduced. They define benchmarks against which performance across education and training may be judged and refer to average performance across the EU. These include

the share of low-achieving 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15%, by 2030
the share of low-achieving 8th graders (generally 13-year-olds) in computer and information literacy should be less than 15%, by 2030
the share of early leavers from education and training should be less than 9%, by 2030.

Students typically enter ISCED level 2, or lower secondary education, between the ages of 10 and 13. Programmes at this level are generally designed to build on the learning outcomes from primary education (ISCED level 1). They are usually organised around a more subject-oriented curriculum, introducing theoretical concepts across a broad range of subjects. Teachers typically have pedagogical training in specific subjects and a class of students may have several teachers with specialised knowledge of the subjects they teach.

Students typically enter ISCED level 3, or upper secondary education, between the ages of 14 and 16. Programmes at this level are generally designed to complete secondary education in preparation for tertiary education or to provide skills relevant for the labour market, or both. They offer students more varied, specialised and in-depth instruction, while teachers are often highly qualified in the subjects or fields of specialisation they teach.

Post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED level 4) provides learning experiences which build on secondary education, preparing students for labour market entry as well as tertiary education. It aims at the individual acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies, although at a lower level of complexity than is characteristic of tertiary education. Programmes classified at ISCED level 4 may be referred to in many ways, for example, technical diplomas, technicians, or primary professional education.

Footnotes

↑ According to the UOE classification, the distinction between public and private is made according to whether a public agency or a private entity has the overall control of the institution and not according to which sector provides the majority of the funding. If a private institution receives the majority of funding from a public agency it is considered to be dependent; if not, it is independent.

Explore further

Database

Education and training (educ), see

Participation in education and training (educ_part)

Education personnel (educ_uoe_per)

Education and training outcomes (educ_outc)

Thematic section

Education and training

Selected datasets

Education and training (t_educ)

Methodology

Metadata

Pupils and students – enrolments (ESMS metadata file – educ_uoe_enr_esms)

Manuals and other methodological information

External links

Legislation

Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of 23 April 2008 concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 912/2013 of 23 September 2013 as regards statistics on education and training systems
- Summaries of EU Legislation: statistics on education and lifelong learning

[1] According to the UOE classification, the distinction between public and private is made according to whether a public agency or a private entity has the overall control of the institution and not according to which sector provides the majority of the funding. If a private institution receives the majority of funding from a public agency it is considered to be dependent; if not, it is independent.

[1]