School dropout remains a major problem in Romania. The Southeast, South Muntenia, and Central regions are the most affected

The early school leaving rate in Romania has remained relatively constant in recent years; while in 2013, 17% of Romanians aged 18 to 24 were recorded as having left education early, this proportion reached 16.8% in 2024. During this time, the European average fell from 11% to 9.4%. Spain, the only country that had a higher school dropout rate than Romania in 2015, managed to rectify this situation, going from 20% early school leaving in 2015 to 13% in 2024.

In all regions of Romania, except for Bucharest and the Western Region, the school dropout rate exceeds the EU27 average, according to 2024 data. In the South-East region, the early school leaving rate is extremely high, at 26%, almost three times higher than the EU27 average. The South-East region comprises six counties: Brăila, Buzău, Constanța, Galați, Tulcea, and Vrancea. The school dropout rate is also well above the European average in the Central region, where it reaches 21% of young people aged 18-24, as well as in the South-Muntenia region, where it stands at 19%. Moreover, school dropout rates have remained relatively constant over the last 10 years, with the only region to see a moderate reduction in the dropout rate being the North-East, where school dropout fell from 25% in 2015 to 16% in 2024. The persistence of high school dropout rates, despite numerous public debates and initiatives, reflects the limited effectiveness of state interventions in this area.

The dynamics of the early school dropout rate are closely correlated with the in-work poverty rate in Romania, i.e., the percentage of the employed population earning below the monthly poverty threshold. In Romania, the in-work poverty rate is approximately 10.9%, one of the highest in the European Union and higher than the European average of 8.5%. Leaving education early often leads to exclusion from the labor market, which means that young people who have not been supported to complete their studies are at risk of remaining affected by poverty throughout their lives.

Furthermore, research shows that many of those who drop out of school are at risk of never working in the formal sector. The EU-LFS survey on in-work poverty shows that half of Romanians aged 18 to 24 who left education early are working or looking for a job, while the other half are not currently working and do not plan to look for a job, which further deepens the cycle of poverty.

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Data source:

• Eurostat: Early leavers from education and training by sex and NUTS 2 regions – data by country
• Eurostat: Early leavers from education and training by sex and NUTS 2 regions – data by region
• Eurostat: In-work at-risk-of-poverty rate by sex and labour status

Data processing and text design: Daniel Sandu

Infographic: Pascalone Media SRL

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