Adult learning statistics focus on the key indicator ‘participation in formal and non-formal education and training in the last 12 months’ . Adult learning is identified as the participation in education and training for adults aged 25-64, also referred to as lifelong learning.
The importance of adult learning is reflected in EU-level targets, namely that by 2025, at least 47 % of adults aged 25-64 should have participated in learning during the last 12 months (European Education Area) and that by 2030, at least 60 % of all adults should be participating in training every year.
In 2022, according to the adult education survey (AES) the proportion of persons aged 25 to 64 in the EU who participated in education or training during the previous 12 months was 46.6%. Sweden and the Netherlands reported the highest participation rates (over 65%) while Poland, Bulgaria and Greece had the lowest ones (below 25 %).
Latvia fares fairly well with a participation rate of 52.2% over all, better than Lithuania (31.4%) and Estonia (48.1%)
It is notable that in Latvia the rate for women (57.1%) is significantly higher than for men (47.1%). The proportion of the population who participated in adult learning was slightly higher among women (47.2 % in 2022) in the EU than among men (46.0 %). In 2022, women recorded higher participation rates than men in 21 EU countries. The largest differences between men and women, in percentage points (pp), were in Estonia, Lithuania, Finland and Latvia, where the participation rate for women was at least 10 pp.
