VALLETTA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Malta had the highest rate of early school leavers in the European Union last year, according to a league table released by Eurostat on Wednesday.
The figures show that 18.6 percent of Maltese youths aged between 18 and 24 were not in education or a training program in 2017.
The island country aims at cutting the rate down to 10 percent by 2020.
The share of early leavers was higher for men with 21.9 percent than women with 15.1 percent.
However, the statistics show that the proportion of early leavers has fallen substantially since 2006, when 32.2 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds was not in education or training.
The statistics also show that 30 percent of those aged between 30 and 34 in Malta had successfully completed tertiary education last year, up from 9.3 percent in 2002. Malta's 2020 target is 33 percent.
Compared with 2006, the proportion of early leavers from education and training decreased in 2017 in all EU member states, except the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, Eurostat found.
Croatia had the lowest share of early leavers from education and training at 3.1 percent, followed by Slovenia with 4.3 percent and Poland with 5 percent.
