For generations, literacy has been understood as the ability to read and write.
Those skills remain fundamental. But in modern Europe, being literate also means being able to navigate digital services, adapt to a changing workplace and continue learning throughout adult life.
Looking into Eurostat statistical data for International Literacy Day, we found a story of real progress, but also persistent gaps.
Across the European Union (EU), fewer young people are leaving education early than they were two decades ago. Yet millions of adults still lack basic digital skills, participation in lifelong learning varies dramatically between countries, and education level continues to be closely associated with employment outcomes.
Taken together, these figures show why literacy should be viewed as a lifelong issue rather than something that ends when we leave school.
Education Data Shows Early School Leaving is a Warning Sign
Education provides the foundations young people need to participate in work, society and everyday life.
That makes early school leaving an important indicator of who may be at greater risk of falling behind.
In 2025, 9.1% of 18 to 24-year-olds in the EU were early leavers from education and training.
The consequences can extend beyond the classroom, with people who leave education relatively young facing a greater risk of poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.
There is good news here.
In 2002, the EU’s early-leaver rate stood at 16.9%.
By 2025, it had fallen to 9.1%, almost halving in just over two decades.
But progress hasn’t been equal.
Romania recorded the highest rate in 2025 at 15.5%, followed by Germany at 13.1% and Spain at 12.8%.
At the other end of the scale, Croatia’s rate was just 2.1%.
The EU has set a target of bringing the overall rate below 9% by 2030.
At 9.1%, Europe is close, but the national differences show that reaching a headline target won’t solve the problem everywhere.
European education statistics show boys are more likely to leave school early
The gender divide is also significant.
Across the EU, 10.6% of young men were early leavers in 2025, compared with 7.5% of young women.
In relative terms, that means young men were around 42% more likely to leave education and training early.
This pattern exists across the vast majority of EU countries, with Romania and Bulgaria the notable exceptions where rates were higher among young women.
Spain had the largest gender gap.
Some 15.9% of young men were early leavers, compared with 9.5% of young women, a difference of 6.4 percentage points.
Literacy initiatives therefore need to consider not only where people are falling behind, but who is most likely to disengage from education in the first place.
European Employment Data Shows the Impact of Education Level
The connection between education and opportunity becomes even clearer when we look at employment among adults aged 25 to 64.
Across the European countries analysed, the average difference in employment rates between adults with low levels of education and those with tertiary education is approximately 32 percentage points.
In some countries, the divide is much larger.
- Slovakia has the widest gap in the data: 33.7% of adults with low levels of education are employed, compared with 91.9% of those with tertiary education, a difference of 58.2 percentage points.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina follows with a 53.8 percentage point gap
- Romania’s gap is 49.4 points.
- Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland also record differences of more than 44 percentage points.
Across the countries analysed, 10 have employment rates below 50% for adults with low levels of education.
These figures don’t mean that education level alone determines whether someone will find work.
Employment outcomes are shaped by many factors, from local labour-market conditions and economic structures to age, health, caring responsibilities and access to opportunities.
But the size of the gap is difficult to ignore.
Strong educational foundations can have consequences that extend decades beyond the classroom.
Gender Gaps in European Employment Statistics Amplify the Disadvantage
Looking at employment among adults with low levels of education also reveals striking gender differences.
- In Türkiye, 72.9% of low-educated men are employed, compared with 28.3% of women, representing a gap of 44.6 percentage points
- Bosnia and Herzegovina has a similarly large divide at 43.2 percentage points
- North Macedonia at 41.9 points
- Greece, Italy and Romania all have gaps exceeding 30 percentage points
Overall, six countries in the data have a gender employment gap of more than 30 percentage points among adults with low levels of education.
Estonia stands out in the opposite direction. It is the only country in the analysis where employment among low-educated women, at 66.7%, is slightly higher than among men, at 65.0%.
The wider lesson is important: disadvantage can compound.
Lower educational attainment is associated with weaker employment outcomes overall, but the effect isn’t experienced equally by everyone.
Digital Literacy is Becoming a Basic Life Skill
Being able to read a document is important. Increasingly, so is being able to open it online, assess whether the information is trustworthy, complete a digital form or communicate securely.
Yet only 60.4% of EU adults have at least basic digital skills, based on 2024 data, the most recent year available in the dataset for the EU27 aggregate.
That leaves roughly four in ten without the level of digital capability increasingly expected in everyday life.
Once again, the differences between countries are substantial.
The Netherlands leads at around 84%, followed by Ireland at 83% and Finland at 81%.
In Romania, however, the figure is approximately 32%, while Bulgaria stands at around 38%.
The gap between Europe’s strongest and weakest performers is more than 50 percentage points.
There is also a smaller gender divide.
Across the EU, 61.8% of men have basic digital skills compared with 59.0% of women.
But the picture isn’t as simple as men consistently outperforming women.
Women have higher levels of digital skills in at least nine EU countries, suggesting that the causes of the overall gap are more complex than gender alone.
Digital literacy now affects whether someone can apply for a job, access public services, manage finances, learn new skills or participate fully in an increasingly digital society.
In that sense, digital skills are becoming part of the modern definition of literacy.
Literacy Doesn’t Stop When Formal Education Ends
The skills we need at 25 won’t necessarily be the skills we need at 45 or 60.
New technology, changing industries and evolving ways of working mean education increasingly needs to continue throughout adulthood. Lifelong learning helps people refresh existing skills, develop new ones and respond to changes that simply couldn’t have been anticipated when they first left school.
Yet only 28.5% of EU adults aged 25 to 64 participate in continued education or training.
Again, the EU average hides enormous differences.
In Sweden, 61.2% of adults participate in lifelong learning.
In Bulgaria, the figure is just 3.3%.
That’s a gap of almost 20 to one.
These differences matter because access to continued learning can influence people’s ability to adapt to automation, new digital tools and changing labour markets. Someone who leaves formal education with strong literacy skills may still find themselves at a disadvantage years later if they have few opportunities to update them.
What Eurostat Data Tells Us About Literacy, Education and Employment in Europe
International Literacy Day is an opportunity to recognise Europe’s progress, but also the gaps that remain.
Literacy today goes beyond reading and writing.
It includes digital skills and the ability to continue learning throughout life.
The Eurostat data highlights across the European countries analysed, employment rates for adults with lower levels of education are around 32 percentage points lower on average than for those with tertiary education, with even wider gaps in some countries.
Europe has made significant progress, with the early school-leaver rate almost halving since 2002.
The challenge now is to build on that progress by keeping young people engaged in education, strengthening digital skills and making lifelong learning more accessible.
Explore Eurostat Data and European Union Datasets with Data Army Intel
Eurostat data is available through Data Army Intel, helping users explore European trends, compare countries and turn official statistics into useful insights for research, analysis and decision-making.
The data makes it possible to move beyond headline figures and ask more specific questions about what’s happening across Europe, where the biggest gaps exist and how those patterns are changing.
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