VALLETTA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Malta has the highest share of early school leavers (aged 18-24) in 2016 among EU, Eurostat data revealed on Wednesday.
Across the EU, the share of early leavers from education and training has steadily decreased to 10.7 percent in 2016, however Malta recorded the highest share with 19.6 percent in all member states.
Of these, 23.1 percent where male and 15.8 percent were female. This mirrors overall EU data, where the share of early leavers from education and training was lower for women than men in almost all states.
Malta was followed by Spain with 19 percent, and Romania with 18.8 percent. The lowest proportions of "early school leavers" were observed in Croatia with 2.8 percent.
The Europe 2020 target for Malta is to reduce the rates of early school leavers to 10 percent by 2020.
